Sailor Moon Neo
by Trista's Timely Tales
Summary: Rini is now Neo Sailor Moon, but now she & Hotaru are the last ones left & they have to use the time key to escape into the past & find help. They land in the ancient past & meet the Sailor Scouts from when Queen Serenity was the very first Sailor Moon.
1. Chapters 1 to 5

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 1**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

Summary: Rini inherited the mantle of Sailor Moon from her mom, Serena, but now she and Hotaru are the last ones left and they have to use the time key to escape back into the past and find help. They land on Jupiter in the ancient past and meet the Sailor Scouts from when Serena's mom, Queen Serenity, was the very first Sailor Moon.

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The story starts off in the far off future when Serena's daughter, Rini, is Neo Sailor Moon.

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They were two alone, and their enemies were many. The surface of the moon was alight with fires from recent battles. The palace was in ruins, Luna City was no longer a place of piece and love, and, except for the creaking of buildings and the howl of the lunar winds, all around was silence. It was hard to believe it, but just a year ago there was a festival on the very ground they now stood. Now all that was left were shadows and echoes of days gone by, and them. But, as long as they were here, there was still hope.

"Rini, we've got to keep moving! She'll find us any moment if we stay here much longer," Hotaru hurried her friend in a hushed voice.

"I'm coming, I'm coming," Sailor Moon replied, taking a last look around the city square before she headed off into the shadows again with her last remaining friend. "It's just, mom and dad were alive then. Now… do you think they all made it out, Taru? We can't be the last ones…"

"Oh, but you are the last," a cruel and dark voice said as a woman emerged from the shadows in front of them. "All of them are dead, left you all alone… except for me, I'll never leave you alone Sailor Moon, I'll always be here. I'm your only real friend, don't you know that by now?"

"Aren't you forgetting about me?" Hotaru says in a cold determined voice as she steps in front of Rini to protect her. The latest incarnation of Sailor Chaos looks down at Sailor Moon's last protector, a small smirk showing on her face.

"Do you think you can stop me?" she asks in amusement.

"Yes, I do." Sailor Saturn raises her Silence Glaive and speaks -- "Death Reborn Revolution" --

The glaive's energy issues forth and swallows up their adversary in its silent undeniable force. The world around them begins to shake and crumble and come apart as the moon itself began to die.

"We have to go back. Please, take me with you?" Hotaru says as she tries to protect them both from her final attack, knowing she will not be able to for long. Rini nods in agreement and takes out the Space-Time Key that she has on a necklace she kept hidden under her uniform.

"Take my hand." She offers her hand to Hotaru as she begins to activate the key to take them back in time to a world she remembers well. A time when her mother was still the first Sailor Moon…

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 2**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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In the blink of an eye the sky was clean and clear. With the soft air blowing across Rini's face. Her hand still extended out and Hotaru was still holding tightly.

Hotaru lifted up her head and looked around. "You did it. We are safe. Now, where have you taken us?"

Rini looked around. "Back to when I was a little. Back when everyone was still alive. At least that's what I think." She blinked a few times letting go of Hotaru's hand.

"Well, if this is suppose to be Tokyo back then. I don't recognize it." Hotaru said holding her weapon on the ground.

"I have to agree." Rini said with her long pink pigtails flowing down her back. "This isn't Tokyo. I think we've gone some place, else."

Hotaru rolled her eyes at her and smirked. "That is quite obvious."

They looked out into the distance on the green hillside. Seeing a highway in the distance and a small town down below. It didn't seem very big. Much smaller then Tokyo.

Then Rini nodded. "I see what happened. We were sent to get different help."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean if we took the Sailor Soldiers from that time period, no one would be there in that time to defeat evil. It would be defenseless. Here in this place, there must be someone who can help us... I wish I could see everyone again, but if this is how I can save them. Then so be it." Rini said with a stiff upper lip and an aching heart.

Hotaru put her hand on Rini's shoulder. "Don't worry. Maybe, we'll be able to go and see them before we have to go back."

"Yeah, just as long as I don't see myself. That would cause a lot of time problems. So, this is best."

Hotaru nodded looking at the small town in the distance. "Well, shall we?"

Rini nodded. "Yes, we shall. We have no other choice."

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 3**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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As they made their way down to the path before them, headed to the town below, the sounds of thunder and lighting began to be heard carried on the winds.

Rini looked off in the distance and could see sparks and bright flashes in the rocky hills off to their side. "Taru, do you see that? What do you think it is?" she asked her friend.

Hotaru looked where Rini was pointing and studied the sight for a moment. "I'm not sure," she said. "But whatever it is, I think it's heading our way."

And as if Saturn's words were portent, a lighting strike shot out from the ridge near them and a giant thunder beast that looked like a wolf or dog came bounding down right in their path. It growled like the crashing heavens above towards the ridge from where it had come, not noticing Rini or Hotaru who quickly got out of it's way.

They looked up and could still hear the sounds of thunder and the disturbance of the stones and rocks in the hills. -- "Jupiter Thunder Dragon, Strike!" -- they heard called out from above them as the form of a great dragon of lightening attacked another thunder beast and caused it to fall from the cliff several yards away from Rini and Hotaru. -- "Jupiter Lightening Chain, Bind!" -- they heard as the Beast near them moved to jump back to face it's adversary again. A chain of lightening trapped the beast and a sailor soldier about their age jumped down from the cliff to land close to them.

"You! You're senshi, like me! " she exclaimed happily. "You heard me! Oh thank you, thank you for coming to help me! My brother, he's–" but as she was talking, the chained thunder beast broke free and moved to attack them again.

Sailor Moon stepped up in between the beast and the others. -- "Moon, Tiara, Magic!" -- she threw her tiara at the beast and knocked it away from them so that it tumbled in the dirt until it got up and decided better of continuing it's attack, getting to it's feet and galloping in the other direction.

"Wow! That was amazing!" this unfamiliar Sailor Jupiter exclaimed. "So, you're all the way from the Moon Kingdom? Toro won't stand a chance now!" she gushed.

"Who's Toro?" Hotaru asked.

"Oh! Right, where are my manners? I'm Sesja Windrush, princess of Jupiter. Toro is my twin brother. Or at least he was, I'm not so sure anymore," her face darkened. "Since last year he's been different. And now he's declared himself king of the planet and done something to our parents - it's like they just disappeared one day! I've been desperate for help, I kept calling, but no one's answered 'til now!" she smiled brightly, very happy not to be alone anymore.

"So, we're on Jupiter then?" Rini asked, trying to wrap her mind around all this.

"Um, well yeah. What? You didn't know?" Sesja asked, clearly perplexed by the question. How could they not know what planet they were on?

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 4**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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Sesja looked at the two senshi with a curiously. "You are from the Moon Kingdom. Right? You are senshi. Right?"

Hotaru and Rini looked at each other bewildered by the new information. Hotaru answered back. "Yes, we are. I'm the senshi of Saturn and this is the senshi and princess of the Moon Kingdom."

Sesja smiled with delight. "Oh, that is great to hear! You had me worried there for a moment."

Hotaru and Rini just smiled back.

"So, shall we go?" Sesja asked pivoting on her heal.

Rini nodded. "Yes but where are we going?"

Sesja smiled in a funny way. "Well, back to my home. Well, not my home. Home because my brother has taken over the castle. So, I escaped one night and found refugee in this nearby kingdom of Morcraft. They have housed me well. In return that I fight for them against my brother's attacks." She looked away.

Rini and Hotaru looked at each other with sympathy.

Sesja turned to them and smiled. "Well, enough of that. Lets get you two back to my home and we can talk more there."

So, the three walked down the grass and rocky hillside. Down to the small town below. They walked by the villagers and everyone was smiling at the sight of Sesja. They walked down bricked streets and saw tall houses with many modern things. Glass windows and shingled roofs. Everything seemed just the same as on Earth but the way they dressed. The women wore dresses to the length of there knees, while men wore pants up to the same height. Everyone had sandals instead of shoes, and many wore hats with large brims. Everything seemed normal enough though. Then they turned the corner and saw in the distance a large, glowing, palace.

Hotaru and Rini's mouth both fell open in awe.

Sesja looked behind at them and smiled. "This is one of Jupiter's many palaces, Castle Morcraft. We built one in about every major city, because in every city we had guardians. But now..." She shook her head. "Now, my brother has taken most of them. It was easier to fight his attacks when they were around, but now that I have you two. I know things will be alright." She nodded. "Yes, now, lets get you up to the castle and get you something to eat."

Rini smiled from ear to ear. Practically salivating.

Sesja smiled at Rini with such delight. "Oh, yes. Most definitely you are from the Moon Kingdom." She giggled and lead the way.

It didn't take long before they were climbing the large steps to the glowing castle door.

Sesja put her hand out to the side. "Wait, here. I wouldn't wont to lose my recently arrived help, just because of a door." She smirked behind her. Then walked forward and put her hand out. Instantly, this huge mass of electricity surged throughout the huge metal door. Then the serge drew into her hand and the door creaked open. "There." She said looking at her fellow senshi. "Now, we can continue." She ushered them inside. Rini went in first and felt the coolness of the darkness. "Wow, this is beautiful." Sesja closed the door and lifted up her hand. "Thank you, but its better with light." She said as the room was illuminated.

Hotaru stood back looking at the massive room before her. "This is just as I remembered it."

Sesja nodded. "Good, so you have been here before. That's great." She walked in ahead. "Please, have a seat."

Hotaru and Rini nodded as they heard a knock on the metal door.

"Bong… Bong… Bong…"

Sesja looked at the door in alarm. "Who could that be." She paused. "You wait here. I'll see who it is. Probably, just a villager. More then likely its Jama." She walked to the door. "Who is it?"

No one replied.

Sesja stopped at the door. "Who is it?"

"Sesja, its me." A woman's voice answered.

Sesja blinked. Perplexed by the voice.

"Alright, I'm sorry it took me so long. Its not easy to get here from Earth. Now, let me in." The woman pleaded.

Sesja smiled and opened the door. "Took you long enough. Even the Moon Kingdom and Saturn royalty got here before you."

The woman smirked back at her with her long strawberry blond hair. "Well, I'm glad someone could make it. It took me so long because I was trying to get others to go with me, but alas they had to stay behind." She looked sadly to the side in her odd senshi uniform. The body and shirt was pure white. While underneath it was sapphire blue all the way down to her knuckles and down her feet and covered by her white boots. The sapphire blue covering even ran up to her neck. She was no normal senshi.

Sesja put her hand on her shoulder. "Oh, he stayed behind?"

The woman nodded sadly. "Yeah, but he didn't want too. Just, one of us had to stay behind."

Sesja nodded sympathetically walking the woman inside and shutting the door behind them. She looked at Hotaru and Rini still standing and smiled at them. "This is my friend, and a princess of the western Earth; Sapphire."

Sapphire blushed. "I am also senshi. Which is more of the reason why I came." She looked at Rini with her gentle, elusive, green eyes. "So, you must be the one from the Moon Kingdom. Am I right? Serenity?"

Rini nodded. "Yes, I am." Which was technically the truth, her proper name was Serenity.

Sapphire nodded and reached her hand out. "Well, its nice to meet you. I'm Sapphire, and you are?"

Rini blushed. "You can call me Rini, of the Moon Kingdom and this is Taru... I mean Hotaru, of the Saturn royalty. A guardian, and a good friend of mine."

Sapphire nodded to Hotaru. "Well, I'm glad to meet you too. Hotaru."

Sesja nodded. "Well, since that's all over. Lets sit down and I'll get you all something to eat and drink and we can talk further."

Everyone nodded and sat down while Sesja went off on her errand.

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 5**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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She was just coming back from the stream with her brothers. She was responsible for them, most days. Her mom worked at the region's governing stronghold as the castle's head coordinator, responsible for pretty much all that went on there, less the military aspects. Her father was a soldier who'd been called away years before, they'd yet to receive word of him and she knew that that fact weighed on her family greatly at times. Still, she was happy to take up the slack as far as her brothers were concerned. Hora and Ren were great company, both very easy going and kind. Hora had a great sense of humor and Ren, while not very talkative, was thoughtful and full of life. They both had a bit of the daredevil in them of course, but that only made life that much more interesting when they were around. She always had marveled about how two of her friends, Chara and Suine, would complain constantly about their own younger siblings. Chara had a younger brother and sister, Suine had three younger brothers and an older sister – she only ever had a kind word to say about her big sister. Whatever the reason though, she was happy she'd gotten lucky and been spared the wrath of Suine's three little brats, that was for sure. She'd met them many times, and she had to admit, she didn't have any more kind words to convey about them than did their sister.

She was musing about all this and a few other matters that darted through her head as she came to the castle's gates and saw a man standing there, uncomfortably looking around as though he were afraid someone might be watching him. "Sir? Do you need some help with something?" she asked.

The man turned to look at her, really noticing her for the first time. But as she got a good look at his face for the first time, her mouth hung open a little in wonder as she dropped down to her knees and bowed before him. "Your majesty," she said reverently.

"No, no! Don't bow to me. Get up girl, get up. No one must know who I am," he admonished her, quickly helping her to her feet.

"Yes, of course. I understand," she said. "But you must be here to see your daughter, mustn't you?" she inquired politely.

"So she is here then?" the king smiled. "I thought as much by the lightening barrier. I can always recognize her signature," he said proudly. "No one else I know makes lightening look so artful. Are you a resident here?"

"Yes. My mother is the master of the house as a matter of fact. May I show you in sire?" she asked.

"Yes, I would like that. I have much to tell that I can only say to my daughter. Please, lead the way," he motioned with a hand to the gates.

"Of course, if you'll follow me?" she went to open the gates. "Hora? Ren? Will you two run ahead and tell Sesja about our new arrival please?"

"Sure thing, Jama. You can count on us," Hora smiled in assurance as he and his brother took off down the halls on their quest.

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Later on, after a pleasant introduction was made and Rini, Hotaru, and Sapphire got to meet Sesja's father, the father and daughter could be found walking the paths in the castle's gardens as the sun began to set for the long Jovian nighttime ahead of them (which, like the days there, would last much longer than the nighttimes of Earth).

They had talked at length about Sesja's activates and the effects her brother's reign had had on the lands of the kingdom, but finally, the topic turned to the reason for the king's presence here this day.

"So, father, what was it you wanted to tell me that is for only myself to hear?" Sesja asked him.

"Oh, yes that… It's a message from your brother actually," the king said in conversational tones.

"My brother? You have a message from Toro?" she questioned, backing away from her father a bit in disbelief.

"Yes," the king turned to his daughter, a twisted evil smile coming to his once handsome face. "He says that he's grown tired of being burdened with a disappointment of a sister like you, and that he'd very much like to try being an only child from how on." His countenance grew darker and he drew his sword and fiercely attacked his daughter with it.

The strike would have been a lethal one, had Sesja not managed to side step it in time. "Father! What has happened to you?!" she asked in shock as she continued to back away.

"Why, whatever do you mean daughter dear?" the king asked, once again striking at her with his sword.

"That is NOT your father, Sesja!" they both heard a familiar voice cry. As they turned to see who it was, an Arabian style sword was plunged through the heart of the king.

"Sapphire?" Sesja questioned in dismay.

Rini and Hotaru stood beside the guardian from Earth, all three senshi tensed for battle. "Fear not. My brother's moonlight sword will reveal the truth of this creature," Sapphire assured her new friend.

And, sure enough, the king's form darkened still more into blackest shadow until it finally slit down the center and became unto two separate beings. One a woman, one a man. Both dressed in armor dark as onyx, both with long flowing raven hair to match.

"Who are you?!" Sesja demanded of them darkly, lightning sparking around her as her temper began to flare in force at having been tricked in such a way, especially because they had used her father's likeness and manner to do so.

"We are the twin ravens, Doom and Dusk. Sent here by your brother with a message: Your death is at hand!" Doom drew his sword fashioned of onyx, Dusk readied her chained mace, and the two fearsome knights cried out their chorus of battle as ravens would, moving to attack the four senshi arrayed against them.

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To be continued...


	2. Chapters 6 to 9

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 6**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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With the misty stars above in the glow of a few of Jupiter's moons, the battle issues.

Sesja, senshi of Jupiter, quickly released her lighting power into Doom and Dusk. Halting there attacks on her friends, new and old, and giving them time to attack.

-- "Silver Earth Transform!!" -- Instantly, in a flash of white light, the senshi of Earth's white attire is covered with a metal breastplate. Metal boots with a long spike on the end of it. Metal gloves with one long spike running off her elbow. Her face covered by a metal mask that split down off her nose and curves to her jaw. Her elusive green eyes flashed from beneath the metal mask as she drew her sword and took on the evil raven; Doom.

Doom looked up at the senshi from Earth and sneered. "You shall never defeat me, Earthling." He lashed out with his sword blazing.

Sapphire didn't back down to his sudden attack. She blocked his advancing sword with her own and glared at him. "You have no idea what I can do." She said as she rolled around his sword and cut his unarmed forearm.

Doom quickly backed away holding his bloody arm. His raven hair falling into the blood. He looked up at the senshi of Earth. "You will regret that." He held up his sword again.

Sapphire just smirked at him. "Only thing I regret is having to kill you." She drew up her sword.

"Well, then; Let me assure you. You wont have any regrets today." Doom advanced towards her and their blades clashed again.

While Dusk had started swinging her mace at Rini and Hotaru. The only thing the girls could do was dodge, only getting off one good attack before Sesja set them free.

Sesja opened up her hands and shot a mighty lighting bolt into Dusk. "Rini! Taru! Run!"

The pair quickly darted around the electrified Dusk.

"What do we do?" Rini asked. "Our first attack didn't do anything."

Hotaru nodded with her glaive in hand. "Don't worry, my princess. I'll take care of this." She gripped her weapon and stood ready.

Sesja released Dusk from her electric hold and drew back to her one leg. Becoming very tired from the extreme exertion.

While the fully armored Sapphire, now wounded from battle, saw Sesja had used her power to much. She shook her head thinking. 'Like always.'

"My turn." Hotaru said as she raised her glaive. -- "Silence" --

Sapphire hard and felt the destructive power of Sailor Saturn. Knowing she had to get Doom in the path of the attack.

-- "Glaive" -- Hotaru continued gaining energy.

Dusk knelt on the ground, lifting up her mace. Rini saw her and threw her tiara. -- "Moon! Tiara!" -- She removed and readied her tiara. Throwing it on demand. -- "Magic!" --Hitting Dusk's mace right out of her hand.

-- "Surprise!" -- Hotaru cried releasing her massive and destructive energy.

Sapphire heard the final cry of destruction and jumped back from Doom. Lowering her sword and lifting up her metal hand. "Time's up." Hitting him in the stomach with a violent burst of wind. He flew backwards and was caught in the destructive power of Hotaru's attack. Instantly, he and Dusk were, no longer. Turned back into black ravens, laying next to each other.

Sapphire walked up to them and sighed. "I told you I'd regret killing you." She picked them up with her bruised and bloodied hands. Looking at the other senshi. "The least we can do is bury them. Its the honorable thing to do."

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 7**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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Looking up at the others, Sapphire saw their reactions. Grudging agreement from Sesja, silent support from Rini, but from Hotaru… Hotaru was looking at the birds in her hand with suspicion. Why was she doing that?

Haunting malevolent laughter seemed to come from the very air itself as if carried on the winds… and there _were_ winds now. Soft winds whipping about close to the ground that seemed to carry a chill with them.

Looking down at the dead adversaries she carried, Sapphire's eyes grew wide with surprise as they seemed to slip through her fingers like mist and air and shadow. Gone in a moment's time were all traces of the birds she'd held in her hands.

The calls of ravens filled the air, and one screeched above the rest, then another. "Beware Doom." One said. "Beware Dusk." The other said. "Do not turn your backs." The voices continued. "Do not turn away." They crowed. "In all the shadows. In every night may we come to hearken your ends." The winds picked up and the sky seemed to darken as if shadows were falling around them. "Bravely you fought. Bravely you struggle." The sounds of cawing in the winds grew louder. "But know you that the grave respects no struggles and cares nothing for the brave!" Louder still the sounds grew as to freeze the blood in your veins, and out of the darkness a flock of angry ravens appeared, screeching as if full of deadly malice in their hearts.

The winds whipped around them and Saturn's eyes narrowed in defiance as she raised her Glaive and spoke — "Silence Wall." — and a barrier of energy stayed the ravens from their dark works, seemingly causing them to melt away to nothing before their eyes.

"What in all hells is going on here?!" Sesja looked around, poised for battle but frustratingly enough not able to find a target.

"I don't get it. Aren't they dead?" Sailor Moon asked, moving a little closer to Hotaru as a chill ran down her spine.

"No. I don't think they ever really were. They're more than they seem." Hotaru said, her eyes searching the winds around them with suspicion.

The winds picked up from inside Saturn's defensive shield and rose up to knock her and Rini off their feet. So distracted, Saturn's wall fell and the birds were at them again.

Weakened as she was, Sapphire could not seem to move in the face of their disorienting attack. She seemed to just curl up into a ball on the ground trying to protect herself.

"Get away from her!!" Sesja shouted as she ran to her friend's aid, swatting at the birds around her, trying to drive them away from Sapphire's body. She managed to break through them and get to her friend's side. "Snap out of it Sapphire! Wake Up!" she shook her friend's huddled body while trying to keep the Ravens at bay.

Sapphire's eyes snapped open and glowed a bright white light. Her entire body seemed to take on that radiance as white wings as from a dove appeared from her back, knocking Sesja away as they spread wide and she opened her mouth and cried out as if she were a great eagle, wounded yet defiant, and a wall of light drove back the Ravens from her and from her friends. It only lasted a moment though and the light was gone and Sapphire collapsed to the ground, exhausted. The ravens and their shadows swooping back in to take up the attack once more.

– "Silence Wall." – Saturn again called forth her barrier to hold them back.

"How long will it hold them?" Rini asked.

"It won't need to be for long." Sesja grumbled as she got up off the ground and dusted herself off, grumpy and annoyed, and infuriated beyond measure. "I've had enough of this!" she said darkly as she knelt down onto the ground. "Mother Jupiter, Please." She began to pray as she spread her hands flat to the ground. "Hear your daughter and bring forth your glory that I may smite thy enemies!"

The ground rumbles and groans as sparks of energy begin to alight all around them before lightening of red and gold hues shoots up out of the ground and strikes at the ravens, destroying them all, burning them to ashes.

The sky clears of the darkness at the ravens' passing.

"Good job!" Rini gushed, going over to hug Sesja in celebration. "You got'm all!" she smiled. "Taru, wasn't she great?" Sailor Moon looked back at her friend who did not appear to be very happy. Hotaru was looking at a point in the sky with that same suspicious manner of hers. "Taru?" Rini asked.

Saturn raised up her glaive and pointed it at the spot in the air. "You're not fooling me." She said. "Show yourselves."

And sure enough, two ravens appeared and cawed their mocking laughter. "Dusk and Doom will see you again." Doom's voice echoed in the air. "Wait for us in the waning of days…" Dusk's voice whispered as they disappeared from view completely.

"Are.. are they really gone this time?" Rini asked.

"Yes… But we should take them at their words. We haven't heard the last of them." Hotaru replied gravely.

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 8**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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All grew quiet as the night fully fell over them. The sky was a crisp black with a dusting of stars all around. Along with a few of Jupiter's many moons shinning down there light on the battle wounded, confused, and wary quartet.

Having come to know their first adversaries, Dusk and Doom, no one said a word. All they knew was that they had to get through the ravens to get to Toro, Sesja's twin brother. And from the look of things, that would not prove to be easy.

So Sailor Jupiter, Sesja, helped Sapphire up, Sailor Moon quickly coming to their aid and taking the senshi from Earth's other arm. Sapphire's head hung low and her hair all about her. Feeling Rini's warmth she looked up at her and smiled that sweet smile of hers. Rini just smiled back and nodded; as if to say 'Its alright. I've got you.' Then together they walked Sapphire out of the gardens and back inside.

Saturn began to follow them then stopped and looked back up into the sky where Doom and Dusk had been. She still felt uneasy about the whole thing. Something wasn't right. Something wasn't right at all. Yet, she turned and followed behind her queen, going ahead to open the palace doors for them.

Once inside, they took Sailor Earth to Castle Morcraft's medical ward.

Sapphire laid on the table, still feeling weak. To weak to keep her senshi attire. Thus, it faded away into a pair of jeans and a purple t-shirt.

Jupiter also shifted back into her normal state of knee length jeans and a fitted blouse. Thus, attending to Sapphire's battle wounds. "You didn't have to do it, you know. I was going to stop them."

Sapphire rolled her head over to Sesja and smiled. "I know." Her hair falling in her mouth. "I just had to do something. I couldn't be that weak. Not when I'm still able to do something."

Sesja nodded dabbing the blood from her arm. "Um, I understand... But you know when you do that, you use up a lot of your energy and will power."

Sapphire nodded. "I know, but I don't use it often. Not as just an energy wave, but things seemed desperate. I haven't died from using it."

Sesja raised an eyebrow to her. "Yet."

Sapphire smiled. "Oh, don't worry yourself, Sesja. I'm not going to do anything to put myself or you endanger again. I promise."

Sesja just looked at her a moment and sighed. Continuing with her work. "So, where are your other wounds? I need to see if any need stitches."

Sapphire nodded and proceeded to show her the rest of her battle wounds.

Rini and Hotaru waited outside the medical ward and talked amongst each other.

"Are you sure you wont to do this?" Hotaru asked in her normal black attire, her glaive leaning beside her.

Rini nodded in her skin tight black pants and the sugar pink t-shirt Jama had given her. Perplexed by the question. "Um, I know what you mean, but we don't have much choice. In order to save our world we need to save this one."

Hotaru nodded. "Understood, but you have noticed it. Haven't you?"

"What?" Rini asked cluelessly.

"Were not in your parents' time. Not in Tokyo's time. We've gone much further then that."

Rini's eye winded as she gasped. "Ah! No. No way! I specifically sent us to that time. So, I could see mom and dad again. Even the girls. This can't be true."

Hotaru sighed and smirked at Rini. "I know but here in this time. Sesja is the princess. Not Lita. Along with her friend from Earth. She's no relation to your father. Which means we've either gone back in time or we've been flung too far ahead. Maybe, if we asked if the Earth's Moon is still there, then we'd know for sure if we went forwards or back."

Rini nodded. "Um, you have a good point, but what I'm wondering right now is what was that energy that came from that senshi from Earth? I've never seen or heard of such power coming for any senshi, let alone one from Earth. I didn't even know Earth _had_ senshi."

Hotaru nodded. "Um, I was wondering the same thing. There are so many questions and so few answers."

Rini nodded. "Yeah, I'm not sure how to go about asking either. I mean if we ask if the moon is blown up or not, they're going to think were crazy. Then we'll have to tell them we've time traveled. As far as I know, the gate of time wasn't guarded way back when or now. Whatever the case may be."

Hotaru nodded, knowing she had made a good case, but something had to be done.

Just then Sesja and Sapphire came walking out of the medical wing. Sesja was walking slowly with Sapphire just incase she needed someone to lean on.

Instantly, Hotaru and Rini got to their feet. The sudden shuffling of feet started their new friends. Sapphire and Sesja looked over at them with wide eyes and beating hearts. They looked at each other and put their hand over their hearts and sighed. Then began to laugh at each other, turning their attention back to Rini and Hotaru.

"You started me." Sesja replied with spunk.

"Me, too." Sapphire added. "Boy, I forgot you two were here."

Rini and Hotaru smiled and nodded.

Rini batted her hand at them. "Oh, that's alright." She walked up to them looking at Sapphire. "Are you alright?"

Sapphire nodded with a sparkle in her elusive green eyes. Touched by how caring this girl really was. Anything she said was from the heart. "Yes, I'll be alright. Once this wound sterilizer wears off, I'll be good as new."

Rini was joyful at that. "Oh, that's great! I'm so glad to hear. You really saved us out there."

Sapphire's heart skipped a beat.

Sesja noticed and said. "Yeah, so…" She eyed around at everyone. "…Should we get something to eat?"

Rini beamed. "For sure! I mean, that would be wonderful. If you want, I could help you? Taru could watch over Sapphire..."

Everyone blinked at Rini's request. Why did she want to separate everyone?

Then Hotaru nodded. Understanding where she was going. "Yes, that would fine. I am more than happy to watch over her."

Sapphire blushed. "Oh, I don't need anyone to watch over me. I'm alright. Really. I don't need a babysitter."

Sesja smirked. "Well, it would be helpful if you could walk with her back down to the living hall. Sapphire can show you the way."

Hotaru nodded.

Sesja looked over to Rini. "So, you know how to cook, hum? I thought people from the Moon Kingdom only knew how to eat."

"Naw, I'm actually a pretty good cook, but my presentation still needs work." The senshi from the moon admitted as they walked off down the hall to the kitchen.

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 9**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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The day was sunny and warm as they walked by the river.

Rini was looking up at the sky. As she did, she pondered her situation once again… Last night, the start of the night anyway, hadn't been very nice. She'd never really disliked crows before, she even had some very fond memories saved up of feeding them at them the temple with Raye a few times… Today though, today crows just weren't her favorite people at all…

"What are you thinking about?" a curious voice asks her.

"Oh, it's nothing really." She looked over at Jama, a little embarrassed at her own thoughts. "I guess I'm just trying to convince myself I shouldn't hate crows… After last night and everything I mean. Crows can be nice you know? At least the ones Raye was friends with were…"

Jama gave her a very nice smile at this. "Really? Tell me about them?"

"Okay." Rini smiled back cheerfully, her spirits brightened at being able to talk about the friends she'd known since she was little again. "Raye's really brave. Way braver than me. And she's a really good friend too. She always made me laugh so much the way she'd tease my mom so bad, it was so funny. But she was always nice to me though, she gave me things sometimes, and she always treated me like I knew things, you know? She lived at this temple that her grandpa had, and she could read things from fire… like the future and stuff? And she knew all this magic, like zap! And she'd put this piece of paper on the bad guy, and they'd like freeze, right where they were. It was so cool." She looked over at Jama.

"She sounds really swift, like Sesja is. She was a good fighter, right? Was she a guardian like her?" Jama asked.

"Swift, huh? That sounds about right." Rini guessed. "Your accent's really pretty, you know? Everybody here, the way you talk, it's really nice."

"You think?" Jama blushed a little. "I never thought about it… I like how you and your friend talk too, it's so interesting… but how come you sound the same? She's from Saturn and you're all the way from the Moon Kingdom."

"Oh um, well… that's kind of a long story…" Rini tried to avoid the question.

"It's alright, you don't have to tell me." Jama smiled. "Oh! This is such a great spot up ahead! Come on!" Jama grabbed Rini's hand and dragged her around the bend in the river.

The sight that greeted her was a wonderful one indeed. They were near the top of a small waterfall and they could see a good ways away into the hills.

"Awesome..." Rini said looking around.

"Isn't it?" Jama took a deep breath and spun around a little, starting to laugh.

Rini couldn't help but giggle a little at the display. "You're kinda funny sometimes, you know that?"

"And what if I am?" Jama defended herself.

"If you are, then it's a good thing you came along with me on my walk. I could really use some fun in my life now a'days." Rini smiled, but it was a smile that was tinged a little with regret and painful memories.

Jama sighed a little and gave Rini an understanding look. "You too, huh?"

"Me too?" Rini asked. "Me too what?"

Jama turned her gaze back to the waterfall. "It's just, in your voice now… I think I… maybe it's just me imagining my trouble in you, but I don't think so, you know?"

"What do you mean?" Rini walked over to her and put her hand on her arm.

Jama turned back to look at her and Rini's hand dropped to her side again. "You just looked… I mean, my dad's missing… My family used to come out here together sometimes…. and it's, I don't know if he's even alive or not. Clear or not, I don't know. But the world's in a bad time about now… it just seemed to me you knew that feeling, maybe even more than I do…" She looked at Rini with a meaningful gaze.

Rini looked down at the ground a moment, then over to the waterfall. "Yeah… I guess I'm not that good at hiding my feelings, am I?" The senshi gave her an ironic half smile.

"Maybe. Or maybe I just know what to look for…" Jama tried to comfort her. "I'm sorry. I… I don't mean to bring up bad memories for you. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She assured her new friend.

"No, it's okay." Rini gave her a hopeful smile. "Beside, the story's not done yet, right? Not for either of us. You just have to believe it. That it'll all turn out okay… That's all you can do. If we try hard enough, maybe things will turn around?"

Jama smiled back at her. "With you around, I think I do believe it."

In the distance, they could hear the sound of a raven's call, but as they looked out over the vista before them, Rini couldn't help but remember Raye's smile, and think that somewhere from another time and place, her friends were still out there, and that one day she'd find her way to see them again.

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To be continued...


	3. Chapters 10 to 13

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 10**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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With the morning rolling in, Sapphire had already woken because Earth time and Jupiter time where much different. So, sometime during the night it was noon on Earth or it could of been three in the afternoon. Either way, she felt like she had gotten up early. So, she sat on her bed in the upper level of the castle. Just gazing out her window and thinking.

'What could he be doing now? Is he thinking of me? Oh, of course he is. He always is.' She told herself. Putting her hand on the silver locket. 'You're so precious to me. What would I do without you?' She sighed. Picking herself up and walking down to the castle floor. Just listening to her echoing footsteps. 'I wish he could of came with me.' She turned toward the kitchen and smirked. 'He'd at least cook for me.' She walked into the kitchen and began to prepare herself something to eat. Lucky she knew where everything was in the kitchen since it was so big.

Outside the kitchen doors, Sesja's nose caught a whiff of the delightful smells and she instantly followed. Opening the door, she found Sapphire pouring out some bacon and eggs onto a plate. "Oh, wow! Those look great."

Sapphire turned, a bit startled. Then rolled her eyes. "Yeah, and I suppose you want some." She looked down at her plate.

Sesja glanced away but her mouth had already begun to water at the thought of the food. "No, I can make my own."

Sapphire rolled her eyes and held to plate out to her. "Here, take it. They're a little underdone anyways. I know you don't mind."

Sesja smirked. "Aw, aren't you sweet." She took the plate and walked towards the table.

Sapphire turned and got a few more eggs. "You can at least make the toast. I have to have toast. Maybe some milk, too. Do you have any?"

Sesja nodded. "Of course, we do." Walking over to a different refrigerator.

Sapphire went about her cooking and soon Hotaru found her way in. And shortly after Rini and Jama walked into the kitchen.

Jama smiled. "Oh, it smells so good in here. Its been a while since anyone has cooked eggs here."

Sapphire smiled. "Oh, hey Jama... Its been so long since I last saw you. How are you doing?"

Jama walked up to her, all smiles. "Well, I suppose I can't complain." Her eyes drifted downward.

Sapphire flipped the eggs. "Oh, I see. Its probably been tough on you too, huh?"

Jama nodded.

"Well, alright. What kind do you want?"

Jama blushed at having someone else ask her that question. She's the one who's usually cooking for her brothers.

Thus, the food was prepared and divided out. With idle chit chat amongst the table. Everyone seemed quite happy and at ease... but Hotaru had suddenly turned bitterly quiet. Sesja noticed first and looked at Sapphire to get her attention. Then things grew still and quiet.

"Sesja." Hotaru asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are the castle's protective barriers and wards at full capacity?"

Sesja looked to the ceiling. "Yes, after last night. I ordered them on full alert."

Sapphire looked towards the kitchen door. She stood up and moved away from the table. Walking behind everyone. "Forgive me, for what your about to see." She closed her eyes and crossed her arms. Bent over her knees and threw her clothing ripped out a skeleton. Soon it was covered by tendons and such. Then little twigs grew out of the bone and began to turn white. Slowly she began to straighten and her white wings were behind her. Her eyes flashed that elusive green. "Now, I'm ready. I'm holding nothing back. I won't be fooled again." Her warm heart ached turning cold for having cared.

Hotaru tensed. "They're coming."

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 11**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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The first impact caused a tremble in the air around them, the second shook loose a little dust, but by the tenth, the castle itself was shaking just a little at the stress.

"What is it?!" Jama asked, turning to Sesja for answers.

"Lightening beasts... A lot of them this time. You better check on your family and get them locked up tight Jama, there's no way of knowing what's going to happen here. Tell the militia guard to secure the premises as best they can too." She instructed.

"Right." Jama hurried from the room.

"Sapphire, can you scout out the situation from the air?" Sesja asked, her training taking the fore. Nodding her agreement, Sapphire began to head to the window. "Be careful out there. Don't fight them alone, okay?" Sapphire just smiled and jumped out the window, spreading her wings to the open air.

"What about us, what should we do?" Rini asked.

"Lets just go outside and wait for Sapphire. If possible, we shouldn't rush into battle without knowing what we're up against."

As the three of them headed out to the courtyard, Hotaru looked around with an uneasy feeling. Thunder beasts, she sensed, were going to be the least of their problems.

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Meanwhile, in the forests outside of town, on a ridge that overlooked the town and the castle below, a lone figure observed. She was dressed in a midnight black cloak and as she pulled back the hood from over her head, her long pale blond hair caught a little in the wind.

"And so the dance begins again." She says.

"And what do you have in store for us today?" Doom's haunting voice asks.

"Our huntswoman likes to keep her secrets. Leave her to her surprises... She will not loose." Dusk's melodic voice answered back.

"Though they are surely lost all ready." Doom's voice replied.

The woman smiled a confidant smile as her dark eyes seemed to spark. "Doom and Dusk, you know me so well... This hunt will be a work of art." She flashed the two ravens perched in the shadows of a tree limb a very deadly smile, showing herself to be a true huntress, a predator, the superior of all she saw. And just like that, she was gone from view, no trace of her passing to be found.

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Back at the castle, the four senshi were engaged in a pitched battle with a full pack of thunder beasts, twenty of them at least. The castle's guardians were holding their own with their backs to the palace gate.

"Keep close you two." Sesja instructed Rini and Hotaru. "We need to make their numbers work for us!" It was a good strategy. By making the thunder beasts face them all in the same spot with their backs to a wall, it gave them a clear line of fire and limited how many of the very large wolf like beasts could attack them at one time. Still though, the battle was going much too slowly for Sesja's tastes. The bests were smart adversaries. They worked with one another seamlessly, switching positions and protecting one another while taking advantage of every opening given them... It was not like any thunder beast Sesja had ever met. The creatures would rarely travel in groups of more that two or three and they were not known for their cunning nor their teamwork. Someone else was clearly behind all this, that she felt was certain. But Who? The ravens perhaps? She could only guess.

As they fought on though, a ruckus could be heard from the rear of the pack of beasts. One of the beasts skidded through the pack and knocked the others off balance. "Who's there?" Rini questioned.

Hotaru's eyes were darting around, watching something. "We have help." She informed them.

And sure enough, the others soon saw a blur of motion too. Glimpses of a dark robed figure attacking the thunder beasts and then darting away again.

"Press the attack!" Sesja called out.

Within a minute's time, the beasts that still stood were in retreat. They looked around, all four of them trying to catch sight of the one who'd helped them.

Only Hotaru though, managed to turn and look to their left at just the right time to see a ghost of an image of a dark cloak and sparkling blonde hair along with a pair of eyes that seemed to dare her to do something, though she knew not what...

"Who was that?" Sapphire asked.

"A mystery." Hotaru said obliquely as she turned to go back into the castle, Rini hurrying to follow along.

Sapphire looked over at Sesja with a questioning look, but Sesja didn't seem to notice. She was looking out at the trees as a vague and uneasy sense of recognition seemed to come over her. What did all of this mean? Who was out there, and why did something about this seem just so very familiar to her?

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 12**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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With the battle suddenly over, Sesja walked back inside her castle with everyone silently following after. The rest of the soldiers picked up there wounded and hurried them off to the medical ward.

Sapphire's gaze lingered behind her as she stood at the door. She wasn't sure of what it was she'd just witnessed, but she could tell Sesja was uneasy about it. She knew there must be something too, when she had been in the sky she'd felt it. Something she wished she'd never feel again. --I wish to see him, again.-- She turned and walked inside closing the door. She retreated to her room.

Sesja watched Sapphire hide away like she had done after fighting alone. At least without him. Ever since Sapphire and… him... fused most of there power together, Sapphire would become useless after a few battles. Sesja curled her lip muttering. "Useless." Then walked off to find her Uncle to get some much needed advice. As well, she needed to check on the casualties and the castle itself, to see what the battle had cost them.

A few moments later, Rini and Hotaru sat in the living space. Rini was still unsure of what happened, so, as soon as all was quiet and she was sure no one was around, Hotaru informed Rini of her disturbing encounter.

"Lady Serenity."

Rini looked over to her with a regal look about her. The one she gets when called by a royal title. "What is it? You don't call me that unless its important."

Hotaru nodded. "It is. It is very important."

Rini nodded. "Go on."

Hotaru looked out the window. "During the battle, I saw the person who helped us. But I don't think that was her real aim in all of this."

"Her?"

Hotaru nodded. "Yes, it was a women with long flowing blond hair. She looked at me as though to taunt me into coming after her. I fear I know her. I can't remember for sure, but I fear I that do."

"Know her? How?"

"I have been reincarnated so many times." She confessed. "I have lived in many time periods and I have not regained all of my memories, but I have some of them, and I can feel others under the surface sometimes. I do not understand why I sense that I know her, or know of her, but I fear more terrible things will come."

Rini gasped. "Huh, oh no. Is she one of Chaos's forms?"

Hotaru looked at her shaking her head slightly 'no'. "No. I don't think so. She is not the same as Chaos but I feel she, or whoever is truly behind this, is not to be underestimated. Whatever happens Lady Serenity I will protect you."

Rini nodded. "I know."

...Up in Sapphire quarters she just lingered. --Why did I come? I can't fight like this. How stupid was I to come alone. I'll just put everyone endanger. Like before. Oh, please forgive me.-- She lowered her head. Clutching her necklace. --I should go back. I'll send someone else. Someone else to help Sesja.-- She looked up and stood up straight. --Forgive me. I should never of come...--

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 13**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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The sky above her was clear and free and vast, but as she looked up at it's expanse, all she could think was that it looked barren and cold... empty... And so, with a heavy heart, Sapphire spread her wings to the heavens and let her feet leave the ground as she ventured off into that vast empty sky before her.

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"It's so good to hear your voce again, Uncle Laethyn." Sesja smiled as her uncle's face flickered to life on the shimmer sender in the castle's communications room and his friendly voice greeted her.

"It brings my heart great joy to hear from you again as well, my niece." Laethyn replied warmly, yet with the proper inflections that were expected of royalty. "Times being what they are, the fear that we may all end up like my brother and sisters is always with me. I can not help but worry over you... But tell me, how are things with you there?" He asked.

"Things are well. Much improved since last we spoke, as fact has it. My calls for help have finally been answered, and there are three senshi from other worlds here with me in Morcraft as we speak." Sesja informed him with an optimistic smile.

"That is wonderful news indeed." Laethyn's deep voice rumbled.

"Yes. We may just have a fighting chance now." Sesja smiled optimistically. "What of you though? How do things go in Skycrest?"

"There have been... rumblings, or troubles. In the outer provinces, around the mountains... The Jupiter Guard we have under us here are still loyal to us though. There have been more threats from your brother of course. As usual, warning me to cede power to him or face his wrath. As yet, he has not tried to make good on his promises though..."

Sesja closed her eyes in thought. "I suppose he thinks he has time... Be on your guard uncle, my brother has become a treacherous and deadly enemy. Do not underestimate him." --What are you up to Toro?-- She wondered.

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Lost in her thoughts, Sapphire had barely seen them coming. A flock of lightening hawks, three times their normal size and more powerful than the normally docile birds should have any right to be.

They had driven her lower towards the ground, just above the canopy of trees in the forest below. Her ship wasn't far away, hidden in the hills, but it may as well have been miles for all the chances the hawks were giving her to escape them.

She screeched in anger as she struck out at them, her anger and fury growing steadily higher as almost every single one of her attacks missed, so fast were these accused birds. They were starting to ram her now - not just strike her with electricity, but actually using their bodies as battering rams. One struck her squarely in the back and she screamed in pain as she fell to the ground, crashing through the trees below.

The world was a blur as she tried to focus her thoughts laying on the forest floor moments later. She could hear the screeching of the hawks over head, it was a dizzying cacophony of sound that made her want to throw up it was so awful to hear.

"Are you all right?" she heard a kind voice ask her.

Sapphire struggled to open her eyes and raise her head. When she did, she saw the most beautiful dark cerulean eyes she had ever seen looking back at her. The woman had a strikingly beautiful face, framed by long wavy pale blonde hair, and her smile made her believe that she would follow this woman anywhere.

"Who?..." Sapphire asked, rubbing her head and slowly getting up to her knees. The woman kneeled next to her and as Sapphire looked around. She could see that a glow of light was surrounding them both, keeping the flock well away from them. "You saved me, didn't you? You're the one from before, aren't you? The one who helped us against the thunder beasts?"

"Indeed I am." She smiled. "I'm only glad I saw you out here in time. I dread to think what would have happened if I had not."

"That makes two of us." Sapphire admitted a bit abashedly.

"I saw you fight them though." The woman said. "Why did you hold back so much of yourself like that? I'm sure you could have won if you hadn't... Is it... Do you want to die? Is that it?" The woman asked in concern.

"I..." Sapphire looked at her in confusion. "I don't know, I... I didn't, it didn't feel like I was holding back... At lest, I don't think it did..." Her eyes were lost and directionless as they looked to the woman before her for guidance.

"You're very strong. You know that, don't you?" The woman cupped Sapphire's cheek and stared into her eyes.

As she looked on, Sapphire felt like she was falling into those eyes. "I..." She started to say.

"Would you like me to show you?" The woman smiled in reassurance at the girl before her.

"I... yes. Yes, I would like that." Sapphire smiled. She felt like she had found something. Someone she could trust. Someone who would help her. At last.

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As the long day finally started to move towards evening, Rini, Jama, and Hotaru could be found sitting on a bench in the town's square, enjoying a meal they'd obtained at a local open air restaurant. They'd spent the afternoon exploring the town's many shops and other visitor attractions. Jama had proudly introduced the two senshi to almost everyone they'd met by name, and there hadn't been an unfriendly welcome to be received from anyone. They now were the town's guardians after all, and many had insisted on treating them as such. Giving them gifts, offering them encouragement or praise.

Rini looked off into the square and let her thoughts wonder. Activities were beginning to wind down as night started to edge closer and closer to them. She could see a few vendors packing up their carts for the day in fact. To her side, she could hear Jama and Hotaru chatting on about one of the craftsmen's shops they'd visited, and Rini was once again amazed at Jama's uncanny ability to make even the normally reserved Hotaru open up around her without much effort at all. --Amazing-- She thought.

As she looked off into the sky though, Rini felt a familiar presence near by. "Sapphire?" She questioned in a whisper. Looking around for where her fellow senshi could be. Her eyes finally found their target half way across the square, walking with another woman, smiling and talking casually as they went on to the castle. The two apparently didn't notice her though.

"Sapphire! Over here!" Rini called out to her, getting to her feet and waving to her.

Sapphire turned in her direction and a bright smile came over her face. "Rini! Hi!" she called back, turning to go over in her direction, the woman with her altering her path to match as well.

"Hi!" Rini called back, as Jama and Hotaru got to their feet as well.

Hotaru looked on, and her eyes widened a little in surprise. --It's her--

"Hi!" Jama greeted the Earth senshi. "Who's you're friend?" She asked.

"This is Citara." Sapphire introduced. "She really helped me out today. And she's the one who helped us fight off the thunder beasts yesterday as well." She informed them.

"I'm very glad to meet all of you." Citara smiled warmly in greeting to them.

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to be continued


	4. Chapters 14 to 15

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 14**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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While Sesja wrapped things up with her Uncle she felt a bit more at ease just from having heard his voice again. With the recent battles she had become a little worried about what was going to come next from Toro. His first attacks had surprised her greatly after her outburst with him that day in the palace. They had been so close and it seemed so suddenly that they had grown apart. Yet, it had taken years for this to happen. With her being born a few minutes later she'd known she was never going to become ruler of Jupiter. So, she'd set her sights on becoming a guardian. Leaving her twin brother, Toro, to the kingly duties he would one day be beholden to. So, they'd drifted apart and had rarely talked except for the perfunctory passing in a hall or conversation around the supper table.

She just took a big breath and sighed over her situation. Thinking, gladly, about her newfound help in the three senshi of Saturn, Earth, and the Moon Kingdom itself. Even if the Earth senshi was getting a little unsteady in all this, but still. Sapphire was her friend and she didn't like doubting her like that. So, she found herself in the kitchen and smiled. Thinking of Sapphire cooking breakfast this morning before the battle began. Yet, when they come in, Sapphire had been willing to show everyone at the table her wings. _--Why? Why would you do that?-- _She thought. Knowing very well at how uneasy, embarrassed, or sometimes even angry about that part of herself Sapphire usually was. --_What drove you to do that? What are you going to do if they ask you about them? I don't get it.-- _ She shook her head and with a sincere smile she walked to the huge cooking stove. _--I hope everyone's back in time for dinner.--_

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Meanwhile; in the town center. Hotaru, Rini, Jama, Sapphire, and the mysterious Citara stood around making idle chitchat. Eventually, Rini's stomach growled loudly.

Jama looked over at Rini in astonishment. "You're still hungry after eating all that food the merchants gave you?"

Rini blushed. "What can I say? The battles have taken a lot out of me."

Jama smiled that giddy and warm smile of hers. "Well, we better get you back to the palace and I can prepare you a proper dinner. The time on Jupiter must be rashly different from your time. To make you so hungry."

Rini still blushing with her hand now behind her head. "Well, I suppose so. You're probably right."

Jama smiled with a glow and looked to Sapphire. "Is your new friend going to join us?"

Sapphire looked at Citara. "Do you wish to go to the castle with us to get something to eat? You might as well come for dinner since you saved my life. Its the least I can offer you."

Citara smiled and moved her pale blonde hair over her shoulder. Her cerulean eyes flashed over to Sapphire. "Of course. Maybe after, we could talk some more."

Sapphire watched the woman's eyes finding herself falling into them again. Her heart reaching out to this unknown women. "Yes, that would great. Maybe, then we could start on that training you talked about earlier."

Rini nodded unsure of what they were talking about. "Yes. So, then its settled. We'll all go to the castle and prepare dinner. Lets hurry. I'm starved." She put her hand on her skinny belly with a giggle.

Thus, everyone nodded and began their walk back to the castle. They couldn't enter in through the front gate, not without Sesja, so Jama took them back around the rear entrance. Where two Jupiter Guards were posted.

"Who are all these with you, Jama?" The first guard requested.

Jama nodded turning to her friends. "These are the three senshi who have arrived to help Sesja with the war, and this is Citara. A friend of Sapphire's, the senshi of Earth. May we pass?"

The first guard turned to the second guard. They gave each other looks and eyed at the pale blonde woman. Then nodded to each other.

The first guard replied. "You may enter."

The two guards stepped aside and a water wall of electricity seemed to rain down and follow the two guards. Like separating water. So, Jama lead the way into the castle and all four followed her silently in.

The guards eyed Sapphire and Citara. Unsure of those two, even though they had seen Sapphire before. Something still made them suspicious.

Once inside, Rini began to bubble over with joy. Her nose had picked up a great sent. "Oh, wow. That smells so good. Lets hurry. I'm so hungry. I could eat a horse."

Jama smiled back at Rini. Delightedly, with her carefree ways. "Alright, this way. My brothers must of gotten a head start on cooking for me."

They followed her through the maze of the castle from the lower level to the main castle and into the kitchen. Where, to there surprise, Sesja - wearing an apron - was stirring up something in a pan.

Sesja heard the footsteps and looked up. "Oh, good. You're here. Did you see Hora or Ren? I sent them out to get me a spice and they haven't returned yet."

Jama blinked. "No. We came in through the back."

Sesja nodded. "Well, alright." She continued to stir. "I know this might not turn out so well, but I thought I'd give it a shot. Since I didn't have anything else to do but stew." She looked over and saw Sapphire with them. Then saw this other woman. She turned off the flame and turned to them a bit shocked. "Who is this?" She nodded to the woman.

Everyone looked at Citara.

While Sapphire answered. "This is Citara. She's the one who saved us today in the early battle." She didn't bring up that Citara also saved her in the forest a little while ago too, in fear of how Sesja would react to that.

Sesja nodded. "Oh, so you're the one."

Citara nodded. "Yes, I am."

Sesja studied her for a while. Not coming to an conclusion too quickly about this mysterious person. "Well, I am grateful for your help." She eyed her.

Citara nodded, giving the Jupiter Senshi a strange sport of appraising look.

As Sapphire interrupted. "So, when will we be eating, Sesja? Rini over here is starving and I'm not too far behind myself." She smiled far to overzealously.

Sesja looked at her long time friend. "Yes, we will. Is… I'm sorry. I didn't catch your name." She looked to the woman.

Sapphire blushed. "I'm sorry. This is Citara."

"Citara." Sesja nodded repeating it clearly. "Alright, is Citara staying for dinner?"

Sapphire nodded on Citara's behalf. "Yes, is there enough food?"

Sesja nodded uneasily. "Yes, enough for us and Jama and her brothers. I'm not sure though, if her brothers invite more to come. I already told them it would be alright."

Jama nodded. "Well, I'll go and see if I can help Hora and Ren. They've probably gotten lost again." She turned and walked out the door back down to the servants quarters.

"Well, if you'd all like to sit down. Dinner will be done shortly." Sesja said turning back to the stove.

Rini nodded to Hotaru. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

Sesja smiled. "Well, yeah. Could you set the table?" She looked up and eyed at Sapphire. "Sapphire can help you find the dishes." Her gaze lingered.

Sapphire knew Sesja wasn't happy with her or her new friend. So, she lowered her head and bared through it. "Sure. I'd be delighted to help. Setting the table for any holiday or event was always my duty at home. I still like doing it. Since I've done it since I was a little girl." She informed Rini and Hotaru as she opened the cabinet of plates. Then walked to the drawer with silverware.

Rini reached for the dishes while Hotaru grabbed the silverware. Sapphire proceeded to get the napkins and walk over to the table with them. Gesturing to Citara to sit down.

Citara nodded back kindly. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Sapphire flicked her hand at her. "Oh, no. You stay there. I've got it. Just need some glasses and drinks. You just sit there. You're our guest." She smiled.

Sesja just stewed over by the stove. Checking on the meat in the oven. Quiet, agitated by Sapphire's behavior to the mystery woman. This Citara gave her an uneasy feeling to be sure; but, by the end of her mental argument, she chalked her feelings about the mystery woman up to being overprotective and stressed out. So, dinner was served and the air about them grew lighter and happy. Jama and her brothers had returned with the spice, so Sesja got up and put it in with the desert. Just as she was doing that, Chara and Suine, Sesja's friends, arrived.

Jama instantly sparked to life seeing her two close friends. She immediately got up and greeted them both with a hug. "Oh, I'm so surprised you're here."

Chara smirked. Eyeing over to Hora. "Well, Hora told us we were invited."

Sesja smirked at Hora who was looking away. "Yes, I told him it was alright. He must of thought it would brighten Jama's day."

Jama smiled. "Oh, yes. Yes, it has. Please, come and sit. Sit. I have two senshi friends to introduce you to." She lead Chara and Suine to the table and Rini and Hotaru.

From there the evening became quite lively.

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 15**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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They were running for all their worth, out of the night from the town behind them. But even at that distance, she could see that their faces were panicked and sacred. "Nellin! Look!" She shouted over to her partner who was about a yard away on his rounds.

"Rowena? What is?..." But as he looked where his fellow guardian was pointing, he quickly shut his mouth and hurried over along with her to see to the two frightened children who were heading their way.

"What is it children? What's wrong?" Rowena asked as she got to them and bent down to talk with them.

The girl just flung herself into her arms and started crying. The boy though, his face was white as a sheet as he looked around and promptly got behind the two Jupiter Guardsmen for protection. "Cats! Big cats!... Black!" he sputtered out to Nellin who had just reached them. They all heard a deep growl from the shadows and looked around, only to hear another growl, and another.

Rowena could make out pairs of bright eyes in the gloom. "They're all around us." She warned Nellin.

-- "Flare!" -- Nellin called out, holding out his javelin staff and, using his training, channeled a light through it to illuminate the darkness around them. What he saw caused him to back up a couple steps in reaction. No less than twenty very menacing looking black panthers had been circling them from just outside the field of vision the palace lights had provided them.

At having been discovered though, the big cats began to move in towards them. -- "Lightening Strike!" -- Nellin called out, summoning a bolt of electricity to strike at the cats that were closest to them. The blast caught one of them flatfooted, but the others were too swift and avoided it, increasing their pace towards the humans.

"Nellin!" Rowena called out, letting the girl go and getting to her feet to help. "We've got to call for back up!"

"No! It's no good! Take them and go!" Her partner instructed, as the first panther attacked him.

"But what about...?"

"I'll be fine! The kids are our first priority, and you're faster than I am!" He fended off another attack.

Rowena looked at him as she tossed aside one of the cats that had leapt at her, a look of understanding coming over her face as she scooped up the two children into her arms and broke into a sprint for the palace gates, which were the closest point of escape.

The panthers didn't make it easy for her, but Nellin hadn't been exaggerating when he'd called his partner fast. In her classes at the academy, Rowena had always been by far the best wind dancer he'd ever seen. So, though the panthers lunged at her left and right, she was able to use the air around her to leap and dodge them with consummate skill, moving fast enough yet to at least keep pace with the enemy cats, keeping the children from their reach.

On one such leap though, her gaze fell momentarily on her partner Nellin who had fallen to his attackers. What she saw caused her to miss a step and get a swipe of sharp claws across her back. It knocked her to the ground, but she managed to twist in the air in time to land on her wounded back, sparing the children in her arms. Luckily, her armor had taken most of the damage, but that would hardly help, considering the cats would be on her in less than a second. So, summoning her best reserves, she summoned the most intense light flare she could to blind the cats momentarily and launched herself as high into the air as she could, leaping over the panthers and making for the safety of the lightening doors she knew she could cross but the panthers could not.

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Sesja had gotten the alert first. One of the castle guards had rushed to inform her right away and she had been down the corridors like a flash, heading for the guardswoman and the two children she'd brought in. When she got there though, she was surprised to see who the children were.

"Ellis, Marka!" She called to them as she went over and knelt before them. "What happened?" She directed the question towards Rowena.

"Panthers, your majesty. There were so many of them... They were chasing these two. Me and Nellin, we..." She looked down, then over to the two children she'd brought in. "He stayed behind to cover me while I got these two back to the castle... I..."

"It's all right, you both did just the right things... What happened out there?" She questioned gently.

"As I was going, I caught a glimpse of what they did to him." She said bitterly. "One of those monsters bit his arm and, and... It was like all the energy just left him... He was gone..."

"That's how it happened." Marka spoke up, an ashen look on his young face. "The panthers bit everyone... When they bite you, it makes another one of them... "

"Except Chara. They didn't bite Chara, or us either." Ellis finally spoke up, referring to her big sister.

"Chara? What happened to Chara?" Jama asked in panic as she, her brothers, and Rini and Hotaru made their way into the room. It had been just yesterday when Chara had been over here, to think that something had happened to her...

"I don't know." Sesja replied. "But we're going to find out." She said with determination, looking to Rini and Hotaru for support.

"Don't you worry Jama, we'll find her..." Rini assured Jama as she and Hotaru followed Sesja out the door. Hotaru also gave their new friend a look of encouragement as they left, and despite her fears, Jama felt a lot better.

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It was the strangest thing walking through town. The street lights were still on and they illuminated their way quite well, but as they went, the three senshi only could hear the occasional growl carried on the wind, all else was silent. They'd passed several people on the streets who were laying unconscious, their breathing very shallow.

"Why aren't they attacking us? Why keep to the shadows like this?" Sesja grumbled. "And where was Sapphire anyway?!" She grumbled with growing irritation. "And that new 'friend' of hers?"

"I... I'm sure she'll be along soon." Rini assured. "We left word with the guardsmen to try to find them and let them know..."

"I don't trust that woman." Sesja further complained. "Sapphire hasn't been the same at all sense she came... And I can't place it, but there's just something about her..."

"What do you...?" Rini started to say, but stopped short as they entered the town square and saw about a hundred black panthers all around them.

"Sesja, Rini, Hotaru, so nice of you to join us." A feline voice called to them. They looked over and saw two tall women perched on a wall near the edge of the square. They both had black armor, like that the two ravens wore, across their chest and midriff; black silken skirts, skin black as the panthers, bright golden yellow glowing eyes, clawed hands and feet, panther-like tails, and long black hair.

"Who are you?!" Sesja shouted. "What have you done to my people! My friends!" She demanded hotly.

"Don't be angry with us." The other of the panther women said. "We're just playing." She almost purred.

"What do you want?" Rini asked.

"Your people are ours now. "The first one said. "Why don't you let us into your castle? The hunting has gotten rather sparse out here..." She smiled predatorily at them.

Rini was looking at them strangely, and Hotaru noticed this. Sesja though, her attention was focused on the panthers that were circling them. Her temper was frayed and by this point she was itching for a fight. So, when one of the panthers started to move closer to them, she struck out and destroyed it.

From there, the battle crashed into a fevered start. The three senshi forming a circle, back to back at first. But as the panthers kept attacking, they got separated.

Rini and Hotaru had been driven over into a corner of the square that was close to the two panther women who were still just watching the fight and not getting involved. Across the square, Rini saw Sesja fighting like she was possessed with something. The anger and fury in her eyes and voice clearly evident even at that distance. Hotaru had been holding their own attackers off, but Rini could tell she was beginning to falter.

One of the panther women, the one who had spoken first, got down from her perch and moved towards them, swiping at Hotaru's shield with a clawed hand, causing it to break.

The surprise knocked Hotaru off her feet. Rini went to her aide, trying to keep the panthers away from her, but the second panther woman slipped by her unnoticed in the shadows. Rini heard Hotaru scream out and turned to see the panther woman biting her friend.

"NO!" Rini shouted, scrambling towards the attacking woman and tackling her away from Hotaru.

The woman beneath her just laughed merrily and said "It's too late" with a smile. Rini turned and saw a new panther appear above Hotaru's unconscious body.

Rini was thrown away by the woman under her and the panther that had come out of Hotaru was closing on her, along with the two women who had attacked her.

Suddenly, something clicked in Rini's mind and she flung her tiara at the Hotaru panther and blasted it to nothing, knocking the two women off their feet in the process. And sure enough, when she looked over, Hotaru was groggily waking up.

"I know who you are. Suine! Chara!" Rini accused.

They looked at her in surprise. "That's not our names!" The first one said. "I am Basha, my sister is Bastette!" She growled, getting to her feet and lunging at Rini with hate in her eyes.

-- "Silence Glaive Surprise!" -- Rini heard as Basha was knocked away from her violently by Hotaru's attack.

Rini smiled over at her friend in appreciation, then turned back towards the two panthers, Bastette having gone over to tend to her sister. "I know what to do." Rini said, getting out her Crescent Moon Wand and raising it over her head.

-- "Moon. Healing. Activation!" -- She called out as a shower of light and energy issued forth, changing the two women back into the familiar forms of Suine and Chara.

"What's... What's going on?" Chara asked, disoriented.

"It's all right. You're safe now." Rini went over to her and smiled in reassurance. As she went, she saw all the rest of the panthers disappear like evaporating mist and the people around them begin to awaken as from a dream.

"No! NO!" Suine shouted, and made a grab for a small oval shaped onyx stone that had fallen to the ground. Having grasped it, she returned to her former state as Basha. There was a second stone, but as Basha watched, it faded away just as all her panthers had. "You haven't beaten us yet!" She swore as she turned into a raven and flew away. The others just staring after her in shock.

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Back in Morcraft castle, in a darkened room, a figure in shadow looked out her window, her pale blonde hair blowing slightly in the breeze. She opened the palm of her hand and a small oval shaped onyx gem appeared there from a tiny whiff of mist.

The woman smiled. "Better luck next time little cat." She teased the gem. "At least you sister, Basha, has done better for herself, it seems." She mused idly before looking down at the girl who's head laid in her lap while she slept. "Sleep well, my Sapphire..." She spoke to her. "Soon, your friends will know the real you. I promise."

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to be continued


	5. Chapters 16 to 17

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 16**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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…Sesja stood with a glare in her eyes as she breathed heavily. Moving her shoulders up and down with each breath. She calmed herself down looking over to the senshi of Saturn and the Moon. Smirking at the quick move of the senshi of the Moon. "Quick thinking." She called over to them.

Rini and Hotaru quickly turned to the voice.

Rini smiled and blushed. "Well, something seemed familiar about them."

Sesja, the senshi of Jupiter, nodded, walking over to her and patting her on her shoulder. "Yeah. Good thing you two are here or I don't know what I'd of done. Sapphire sure wasn't any help at least. I swear, I don't know what's gotten into her lately... If it's not one thing with her, it's another." She grumbled, shaking her head in worry.

Rini looked on, not sure how to react to her words because they weren't false. Something wasn't quite right with their friend from Earth, she'd sensed it herself.

Sesja rolled her eyes. "Well, lets make sure everyone is alright and doesn't need further assistance."

Hotaru nodded and looked to Rini, who shifted away from senshi mode and went with her to go help.

Sesja turned and went to the nearest victim.

Rini's head hung low.

Hotaru knew Rini's heart was low with the recent events and said "It'll be okay." She shifted back from senshi mode herself and put her hand on Rini's shoulder. "I know you wonted to save them both. For Jama."

Rini nodded sadly with her head low. "Yeah. How am I going to tell her?"

Hotaru sighed.

Rini looked up at her with sadness in those kind and caring eyes of hers.

Hotaru put her arm around her and together they walked off to the people in the village.

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Meanwhile, in Morcraft Castle, Sapphire slept an un-waking sleep. A sleep she could not escape from nor did she desire too. In her dream world, she was most at home. Having become a semi-master of the dream world. Having had many demons and evil magic enter her dreams for most of her life. There came a point to where she couldn't take anymore and a warm feeling came into her heart and filled her spirit. Giving her the sudden knowledge of knowing how to defeat this evil. As soon as she woke she looked to the ceiling and in her heart began to thank God, for saving her life. She knew it had it be because she was totally lost and weak.

So, now as she sleeps. Her world is full of happy things. Being back home on Earth in the Western Kingdom with her knight beside her, she felt invincible. Knowing that she could do anything with her knight beside her. They had won many battles because of their love. Having to fuse there power into one to save themselves and everyone on the Earth.

She giggled at his shinning face with the most gentle blue eyes and waving black hair. She was most grateful God had given him to her or else she would have been dead a long time ago because she was one of the worst and weak senshi in the universe. Having been possessed a few times as well as being taken to the dark side and killed once but was brought back to life in the most divine way.

"What are you doing, Sapphire?"

Sapphire looked up with her elusive green eyes at him. "Nothing. Just waiting for you."

He smiled down at her. "Well, I'm here. Like I always am. I'll never leave you. I promise. We'll always fight together. Forever."

Sapphire's heart beat strongly to his words of comfort but then her mind drifted. _--No… not always. Not forever.--_ She looked up at him sadly._ --But you're not here. You're not with me. I'm alone. All alone. I can't fight…--_ "I can't fight without you." She said out loud.

He looked at her and began to fade.

Sapphire just watched as her happy dream world turned to black. Her heart filled with coldness and despair. She clung to herself to try and keep herself warm but there was no warmth. There was no warmth left. She just fell, thinking desperately of Citara. The strange and mysterious helper. The one who promised to help her. Help her fight on her own. But how? How was she going to do that?_ --I'm alone. I can't fight alone. I need you. I need someone. You have to help me.--_

Then a yellow light shown in the darkness of the dream world. "I'll help you." Citara's voice spoke sweetly. Her cerulean eyes beamed thru the yellow light.

Sapphire gasped. "You're here. How can you? Why? Oh, thank God. I'm so grateful you've come." She lunged for Citara and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm so lonely. I'm so cold. Please, please, can't you help me? Can't you please?"

Citara slowly stroked her strawberry blond hair. Running her nails softly thru it. "Of course I can. All you had to do was ask."

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In town, Sesja, Hotaru, Rini, and the recently appeared Jama stood in the town center.

Jama held her head low. "Oh. I see."

Rini looked at her with the most heartfelt compassion. "I did all I could. I thought I could save them both."

Jama nodded looking up in shock. "Yeah. I know. I know but you did save Chara. Maybe there's hope yet. Yes, yes. There's hope. There has to be hope." A tear ran down her face. "I have to hold on to hope. It's all I've got. It's all I've got." She broke out into tears.

Rini quickly put her shoulder under Jama and let her cry.

Hotaru watched from a distance and her silent and steady heart silently chipped away as Jama's tears fell. To the point where she walked over and put her hand on her back. To show comfort and support.

While Sesja sighed, having finished checking out the town. Her heart suddenly lightened and fell lower. With the loud tears of Jama. She looked to Morcraft Castle and sighed. _--Sapph. Rowen. Nellie.--_ She lowered her head and shook it slowly. _--What has happened? My world. My friends... I'm sorry.--_ She stood waiting for Hotaru, Rini, and the heartbroken Jama.

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"Just let go. That's all you have to do. Just let go of the bond you hold with him. It is what is keeping your power hindered." Citara's crystal voice spoke.

Sapphire nodded with a heavy heart. Looking down, then up to Citara and repeating the action a few times. Debating in her mind and heart. Agreeing and disagreeing to Citara's words. Then she closed her eyes and looked up at Citara with a heavy heart. "Okay." She lifted her hand up around her neck and her precious necklace formed. "I'll do it." Out in the real world, Sapphire's hand reached up to her necklace and grasped it.

Citara smiled with devious pleasure and nodded sympathetically. "I know it seems hard now, but don't you want to show him you can protect on your own?"

Sapphire looked up at her with a flare in her eye and nodded. "Yes. I do. I do very much. I'm just afraid that if I do. If I do I'll never be able to…" Her eyes cast down.

Citara put her hand under her chin. "Don't worry. Nothing bad will happen. All you have to do is break the bond and you'll be free. I promise nothing bad will happen."

Sapphire nodded and with her ultimate and final decision. She tore the necklace off her neck in the dream world and the real world. Instantly, incasing it in stone. Then into ice. The coldest and deepest freeze she could summon and with one final motion. Turned her hand and dropped it to the ground. Silently, her heart felt with it. It shattered on the floor. The stone splintered off into shards. As the necklace in the mist of the stone and ice fractured. The locket flung open and the purple stone inside scattered like the rock. Instantly, she held her neck and gasped for breath. Not believing it was true. She had destroyed it. Finally, destroyed it.

Her mind flashed back to when he gave her the necklace. To the moment they had to fuse their power together. Forming that purple crystal she held in her locket. His warm smile withered from her heart and she looked up at Citara. Her elusive green eyes flickering back and forth between hollowness and life.

Citara smiled. "Oh, how divine. You've been very brave."

Sapphire watched Citara and couldn't understand her smile. When all she was doing was falling. Falling into something she never wished to fall in again. "Don't let me. Please, don't let me. Don't let me go there. I don't wont to go there again."

Citara put her hand on her shoulder in the dream world just as she did in real life. "Your power has been unleashed. You cannot stop it now."

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Through the hundred, thousand, millions of miles of open and star dusted space the knight of the Dark Moon woke in a start; sitting up in his royal bed. His eyes flashing with fear and his hand instantly gripping around his heart. Feeling pain and anxiousness. _--No, she wouldn't have.--_ He spoke in a wispy gasp.

-- Boom, Crash!! --

His eyes turned to the side looking out his curtained window. Hearing thunder rolling through the Dark Moon Kingdom. _--It's come.--_ He quickly scattered his sheets and bolted out of his room. Heading to the Moonless Guard. Quickly, gathering his information and summoning all of the senshi on Earth and any neighboring kingdoms that could aid in the thunder attack.

Roars of lighting filled the sky. While beasts like wolves, cheetahs, and horses reeked havoc to the towns and villages. They were all still miles away from the Dark Moon Kingdom but all too close for Prince Darick of the dark side of the moon to endure.

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Sesja walked in front of Hotaru, Rini, and Jama. Giving them time and space to deal and comfort each other over the recent loss. She walked up the castle steps and disengaged the electric field and let them all inside. Turning on the lights. Ushering them in to sit, she thoughtfully got some tissues for Jama.

"It'll be alright, Jama. I will make the person behind all of this pay. I promise. There will be justice." Sesja nodded strongly but with a soft air.

Jama took the tissues and nodded. "I know. I trust you. As soon as I compose myself, I'll go tell Ren and Hora. They'll want to know as well. Especially, to let them know to keep their distance from Suine. I don't know what I'd do if I lost them too." Her tears sprang forth like rivers.

Rini's compassionate nature instantly took over as she comforted Jama once more. This girl had lost far too much in her life already - a feeling Rini knew all to well. She needed friends, and Rini was determined she would be there for her.

Sesja nodded and walked out of the room. Knowing they should be alone, again. So, she walked off down the hall and saw the pale blonde woman, Citara. Her hair raised on the back of her neck like a short fuse.

Citara nodded kindly to her.

Sesja's eves narrowed, but nodded back with as much politeness as she could muster.

Citara eyed Sesja. "Sapphire wants to see you." Her words airy and deathly.

Sesja's heart gasped as her face turned angrily concerned. Gazing back at Citara, who was walking away with a hint of a smile on her lips. Her eyes widened. _--He's greater than her…-- _ These words flashed thru her mind. Quickly, she turned and bolted down the hall and up a few flights of stairs. Swiftly, slamming open Sapphire's door to a dark room. Her eyes quickly adjusted to the sudden darkness and saw by moonlight alone a figure hunched over and looking at her. Its form seemed mangled. Then she watched as the form dropped its head towards the ground. Instantly, Sesja's gaze followed and saw the shadow of the broken pieces on the floor. "No." She gasped out. "You didn't."

Sapphire's head raised to Sesja's voice. Her body long grated as she stood up straight. "Forgive me. I have unleashed…"

Sesja slowly walked in. "I know. I know you have but you're going to be alright. I promise. Please, just take my hand." She reached out her slender arm. "I'll take care of you. We'll get you back to him. We can fix this. You know that."

Sapphire stepped back from Sesja's extended hand. "No. I can hurt you. You know I can hurt you. I wont do it again. I wont. I wont. I let her in. I let her in. Don't you see? I'm a puppet, again."

Sesja shook her head 'no'. Determined to win her friend back. "No. You are not a puppet. Just come with me. I know how to solve this and so do you."

Sapphire backed away further into the moonlight. Her strawberry blonde hair had turned white. She turned and looking into the many moonlights.

Sesja gasped seeing those kind and gentle elusive green eyes gone. Replaced with despair and darkness.

Sapphire looked back at her hearing her exasperation. "I'm hideous. I know."

Sesja couldn't reply.

Sapphire looked to the ground. "Tell Darick I'm sorry. I was foolish in thinking I could fight as well as any of you." Then her eyes looked up into the moon in front of her. Her eyes began to vanish as she spoke. "Run."

Just as the words wisped across Sesja's ears. Sapphire's eyes drew blank. Then turned slyly towards her as an evil smirk slithered across her face.

"I'm hungry...Time to die again, dear Sesja."

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 17**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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She sat perched in the shadows of a tree near the perimeter of Castle Morcraft. Her body taking in the subtitle sights, sounds, and smells all around her with the ease and knowing skill of a huntress born. This huntress though, had dark thoughts running through her mind as her eyes seemed to fairly burn a hole in the castle across from her. Such was the hatred in her gaze.

Movement caught her eye. The guards would soon be changing. The time she had been waiting for was here, and so the form of a black panther made it's way stealthily across the courtyard in the dawning hour of the day.

They would pay for what they had done to her sister. She would have her vengeance - this Basha swore.

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Sesja's eyes grew wide a little as what was happening took a moment to sink in. Her friend was going to kill her, but damned if she would let her. She stopped backing away and stood her ground, readying herself for a fight.

"All right Sapphire. If that's how you want it, I guess I'll just have to knock some sense into you the hard way." Her hands clinched into fists and lightening began to crackle around her. Strangely though, her former friend stopped moving and cocked her head at her, as if in question about something. Seeing the opening and wanting to end the fight as quickly as she could, and having no real stomach for fighting someone she cared so much about, Sesja prepared to strike.

She moved forward to attack, but as she did she felt a slight chill run through her and a tingle shivered though her body. She knew, even the second before it happened. She knew she'd made a mistake, and turned her back on the wrong person. The palm of a hand was on her forehead and she suddenly felt warm and flush, dazed, as a wave of light flashed through her and she collapsed into Citara's waiting arms.

"She's so easy..." Citara smiled as she gently held Sesja's unconscious body in her arms and looked down at it with a curious sort of look on her face, as if she was trying to decide something. The pale blonde woman then looked over to see Sapphire having collapsed on the ground. "My, my, these girls just seem to be falling asleep around me left and right." She smirked to herself as she went over and deposited Sesja on the bed and then moved down to Sapphire and ran her hand over her forehead gingerly. "Would you like to play a game now?" Citara asked her.

Sapphire stirred and looked up at her bewilderedly. "A game?" She asked. Her mind was in a fog, and she could hardly remember how she'd gotten where she was. She did recognize the hand on her face though, and the eyes that looked down on her - she would do anything those eyes asked her - and slowly at first, things started to make sense to her again... She felt strong, really strong. She felt sure of herself, powerful, in control... and she was itching to spread her wings and soar. "Just name it." She smiled at her new friend, a dare in her eyes.

Citara smiled. "That's my girl." She smirked as she helped Sapphire to her feet and led her over to the full size mirror on the other side of the room. Citara stood behind her student and ran her hands through the senshi's hair a little. As she did, the hair color started to change, followed soon by her clothes, her face, and the rest of her.

Sapphire stood transfixed by the change. She looked just like Sesja now.

"This should be fun." Sapphire grinned at her new reflection.

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'Sesja' was walking confidently down the halls, thoughts buzzing around in her head of the possibilities of what she could do now. She felt charged with energy. So much power, and it was all hers. She could hardly wait to test it. But Citara wanted her to be patient, so she would be patient... For now anyway.

As she walked, she saw Hora in the hallway, seeming in a hurry to get some place. "Mmm. Sapphire eyed him predatorily as she sped her steps up a little to catch the boy. "Hey, hey little Hora. And were are you going in such a hurry?" Sapphire stopped the boy by bending down a little and holding him by the shoulders.

"Huh? Oh, Sesja." Hora smiled. "Jama needs some grains from the store house, the kitchen's out and she wants to make pancakes for us." He informed her.

"And you're going to go fetch it for her? Like a good little puppy?" She taunted him with a sort of dark delight in her voice.

"Hey!" Hora protested in outrage. "I think I resent that! What's gotten into you Sesja? Not have your midnight snack or something?" He teased her, poking her in the ribs playfully.

"Mmm, no I didn't." She teased him back. "And I'm feeling kind of hungry as a matter of fact... Think you can help me with that, little puppy?" She grinned.

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Jama was hard at work with her breakfast preparations. Her brother, Ren, scampering about the kitchen making himself useful.

"Hey Jama, good morning!" She heard a cheerful familiar voice call to her.

"Sesja!" Jama smiled as she turned to greet her friend and give her a hug. "It's good to see you. How did things... How did it go with Sapphire last night?" She asked in concern.

"Oh, she's fine. Nothing to worry about." 'Sesja' said lightly. "So, what'cha making for breakfast?" She peeked around Jama's shoulder and eyed Ren a little hungrily. Ren gave her a strange look in return.

"Oh, just pancakes, eggs, and berry muffins." Jama informed her.

"Did someone say muffins?" They heard the hungry voice of Rini, who was accompanied by Hotaru, say from the door.

They exchanged greetings and soon Rini and Hotaru were chatting between themselves about last night's events at the table while Sesja hovered over Jama, ostensibly helping her with the preparations.

"I'm worried about Hora, he should have been back by now." Jama complained after a while, looking over to the door.

"You shouldn't worry so much Jama. I'm sure he's fine." 'Sesja' said from behind her.

"You think so?" Jama asked. "I guess so... It's just, with all that's happed, I just... I..."

"It's because of your father." 'Sesja' said matter-of-factly. "He's dead Jama." She whispered into her ear. "Get over it already."

Jama turned to face her. A pained, hurt expression on her face.

"Well it's true." 'Sesja' said, a smile coming to her face. "You'll never see him again. Some big beastie probably ate him all up. It would be better if you didn't dwell on it so much. I'm your friend, you should listen to me." She playfully admonished her, tweaking a wisp of her hair while she was at it.

"How can you say things like that...?" Jama said in a disbelieving whisper. The hurt growing deeper and very evident on her face.

"How can I not?" 'Sesja' replied logically. "I'm your friend, you should never have anything less than the truth from me. I'm sorry I didn't say this sooner. But you've really been only hurting yourself with holding on to this stuff about your dead father like this. You'd be much more happier if you'd just move on already and let the old man's memory lie dead in the ground were it belongs." She fixed her with an intense look and Jama just crumbled under in, breaking down into tears and running from the room.

Rini was up from her chair in a flash when she heard this, and Hotaru was looking after Jama in silent concern. "What happened?" She asked Sesja.

"She's just... I'm not sure, it's something to do with her dad... I'll go after her." 'Sesja' said in concern as she turned to follow Jama.

"I think we should go after her too." Rini turned to Hotaru, who nodded her agreement and got up out of her chair.

Before they could move much though, they both heard a familiar growl from somewhere around them. Hotaru turned and looked at an open window which had a black panther crouched in it.

"Suine..." Rini said, backing away, shifting to her senshi mode along with Hotaru, and getting out her Crescent Wand. The wand was snatched out of her hand though, by a second panther who brought it over it's mistress, who's form shimmered a little and changed into that of Basha.

"That is NOT my name little pink girl." Basha growled at her and fixed her with a hate-filled glare as two more panthers closed on Rini and Hotaru from the sides. "And you and your little friend are going to PAY for what you did to my sister with this filthy little trinket of yours." She growled menacingly.

The two panthers to their sides moved to attack, but Hotaru quickly moved to counter it though, knocking them both away from Rini and herself in one precise move of her Glaive. Basha sprang forward though and grabbed Hotaru by her wrist, throwing her across the room as she closed on Rini. She knocked her to the ground, and bit her fiercely on her neck. A satisfied growl escaping her as she watched the life drain from her prey and a new panther begin to appear.

-- "Silence Glaive Surprise!" -- Hotaru shouted out as she moved to attack Basha, undisguised fury shining in her eyes at what had just happened.

Locked in their fight, neither saw though, that Rini's hand began to move as her eyes still flickered with life and focused on the wand that was laying discarded on the kitchen floor. Her thoughts searched out to it, and it moved. First a little, then a lot, swiftly returning to it's owner's hand and dispersing the still not completely formed Rini panther before it could fully come to life. The three other panthers were quick to surround her though as she got to feet

At the other end of the room, Basha had Hotaru on her back on a table and was trying to fight past Hotaru's arms to get to her, and not having much luck at it so far. --"Moon Scepter Elimination!" -- They both heard shouted, causing them to stop their struggle for a moment and look over to see Rini getting to her feet and pointing her Crescent Moon Wand at them.

"Time to go." Basha quickly said, her eyes wide with fear as she shifted to panther form and dashed out of the room before Rini could again change her back.

Hotaru just looked over at Rini with a very uncharacteristic grin on her face. "Well, I guess you showed her." She started to giggle a little. Rini soon joining in a bit as she went over to check on her friend.

"Are you all right?" Rini asked in concern, visually inspecting Hotaru's body to see if there was much damage.

"Oh, yeah. Only a few scratches here and there. I'm fine, really I am." Hotaru assured her.

"Well, that's good. You really gave Basha a fight though, you know." Rini smiled at her, once again impressed with her friend's fighting abilities. "But we've got to hurry and go find Sesja. She has to know that the castle isn't safe anymore." Rini assessed with concern.

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Back in the room the real Sesja was secreted away in, Citara set crouched on her feet on the chair opposite the bed. She was restlessly looking at the sleeping girl across herm her, her eyes not at ease and a contemplative look etched on her face.

"Mistress Citara." She heard from the window. She'd sensed her panther coming from far away and wasn't at all surprised by Basha's entrance, though her eyes did not acknowledge her. "I... I'm sorry, it did not go as I had hoped it would..." The panther said meekly. "That dammed pink little witch with her stupid little pink stick." She fumed, her eyes alighting on the girl on the bed with interest.

"Don't worry about it Basha." Citara said dismissively. "The best part of a hunt is when your prey can surprise you. Take strength from that. Enjoy the experience..." Her gaze was still fixed on Sesja and her manner was disinterested, as though she was just dealing with some bothersome little detail that wasn't very important to her.

Basha bristled at this, and eyed her mistress darkly. Not at all happy with being dismissed like that, even though she had failed. She would have preferred if her mistress had been displeased with her to that, but this? Her eyes smoldered with bitterness and a sense of betrayal, and as they turned on the girl on the bed, the girl her mistress seemed to think was more worthy of attention than she, that bitterness turned to jealousy.

"So. It looks like that brown haired little lightning thrower wasn't so tough after all." She smirked. Her eyes growing darker as she moved over to the sleeping girl's side.

"No... I guess not..." Citara replied absently, her gaze still absently fixed on the girl on the bed.

"She might as well be useful though, right? And I do need a few new cats." Her voice became low and hungry as she moved up onto the bed and started to move over the girl's body as if she were her prey.

Before she got very near to her though, she felt a vice like hand close around her right bicep and throw her roughly to the ground. "You are NOT to go near her again." Citara looked down at her, her eyes intense. "You understand? Never. Again." She spoke.

Basha looked back up at her mistress, her eyes wide with disbelief. "You'd choose her over me?!" Basha growled furiously. "What's the big idea?! Who's side are you on?!!!" She challenged her.

"Shut up Basha!" Citara glared at her. "You'll do what I say. What I do, I do for my own reasons."

"But she's!..." Basha stopped as she saw the look in her mistress's eyes, and decided better of challenging her over this. "Fine!" She said, turning away from Citara. "You're right, I do what you say."

Citara's voice softened. "I didn't mean it like that." She said. "Just go. Find Sapphire. She has a present for you." Citara walked around to in front of the pouting panther and handed her a small onyx gem.

Basha's eyes lit up. "My sister?" She looked up at Citara, who nodded. "All right, you're forgiven." She smiled at her mistress and hurried out of the room.

Citara just shook her head. "Fickle creatures." She said to no one in particular. She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of it, bringing her hand up to touch the sleeping girl's hair, a little wistfully. "Who are you?" She questioned the sleeping senshi, her eyes taking on a strange lost look in them. "Why do you seem so..."

She closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts. "Time for you to wake up I think." She touched Sesja's forehead lightly and the senshi's eyes flickered open. "How are you feeling?" She asked.

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Rini and Hotaru were racing down the hallway, trying to find Sesja, or possibly run into Basha again so they could head off the panther for before she could raise more of a panther army.

"Where could she be?" Rini asked as she continued to hurry.

"I don't know, she should be somewhere around here." Hotaru replied.

"Who are you looking for?" They heard a familiar voice ask. Turning, they saw Sesja standing in a door to the courtyard at their side.

"Sesja! Where have you been?" Rini asked, happy to see her friend again.

"Oh, here and there I guess." She replied obliquely. "Who are you looking for?" She repeated.

"We were looking for you, actually. The castle is under attack!" Rini replied urgently.

"Attack?" 'Sesja' replied in mock surprise. "Who's attacking? More panthers? Lightning beasts? Tell me Rini, who would want to attack us?"

"I..." Rini started, confused by the weird way Sesja was talking.

"Rini, look!" Hotaru spoke up. Rini turned where her friend was indicating and saw Sesja, another Sesja.

"What in the...?" Rini turned to look at the first Sesja. "What is going on here?"

The first Sesja smiled. "Oh well, guess the cat's out of the bag, huh? Or was that two cats?" She smiled wickedly as Basha and Bastette walked out of a nearby room with a couple panthers at their heals.

Sesja, the real one, saw this, and rushed over to join her friends. "What's going on?" She asked, coming up short. "Never mind, tell me later."

"Jama?" Rini asked. Looking at Bastette.

"My, you're good at that." The fake Sesja smiled wickedly. "And what about you, sister dear?" She spoke to the real Sesja. "Memory not working quite right? Oh, what a shame." She teased her. "Oh well. I just don't think I'll be able to clear that up for you today." She raised her hand and a flash of intense light filled the corridors, blinding them. By the time the light was gone, so were the panther sisters and the false Sesja.

"Something is very wrong here." Hotaru said as she looked around.

"No kidding." Sesja spoke, a blank look on her face.

"What happened to you?" Rini went over to her and put her hand on her shoulder to show her support.

"I don't know, I... I went to see Sapphire, but she wasn't there... I guess, I guess I must have collapsed or something, or fell asleep... but the next thing I know, I wake up and Citara is there. She tells me she had been looking for Sapphire too, but had found me instead. We set out to look for her, but..." Sesja got a pale look on her face.

"What is it?" Rini asked in concern.

"Poor Hora... Citara, she took him to the healers, she..." She looked down. "We found him, found Hora, laying there in the hallway... Citara told me, she told me his soul had been stolen."

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to be continued


	6. Chapters 18 to 19

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 18**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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...Back on the dark side of the moon; Prince Darick was extremely concerned with the situation at hand. He knew something had happened to his love; Sapphire; but knew he couldn't go to her aide. He had to stay and protect his kingdom like he'd promised her he would, in order to let her go and help her friend, Princess Sesja of Jupiter.

"Prince, the beasts are closing in on the palace walls. What do you wish us to do?" A Moonless Guard asked fervently.

Prince Darick stood in command. "Have you taken my father and mother to safety as I ordered?"

The guard nodded. "Yes, your majesty."

Prince Darick nodded and turned hi gaze to his forces before him preparing for battle. "Alright, then. Assemble - everyone to the front line. The only way we combat lighting and thunder is with the water element and brute strength. Have the forces from Neptune arrived yet?"

The Moonless Guard looked down distressed. "No, sir. Not yet. We sent out the request for aide the other day as you ordered."

Prince Darick nodded agitated. "I knew it. I should have summoned them right after she left."

The Moonless Guard looked up at him oddly. "You mean Princess Sapphire?"

Prince Darick looked at him proudly. "Yes."

The Moonless Guard lowered his head.

"Have any other of my summons arrived yet?"

In the distance a voice called out. "Yes, sir. One has just arrived." Another Moonless Guard informed him. Then stepped out of the way. As a yellow senshi walked in with long, blond, braided hair.

Prince Darick nodded, pleased. "I see the Senshi of Venus is the first to arrive."

Senshi Venus nodded. "I am. I set out for the Darkside Kingdom as soon as I got the summons. I figured no one else could make it in such a short time."

Prince Darick nodded walking up to her. "Well, Falisha, the advancing beasts are almost to our gates. Are you ready to take them on with me? Until the others arrive?"

Falisha nodded yes, standing straight. "I am more then willing to aide you in this battle, Darick. I just wish Sapphire could be here to help. The power you two share is one of the strongest I've seen."

Darick nodded with a heavy heart. "Yes. I know."

"You wouldn't want to start the fight without me. Would you, Darick?" Another woman's voice spoke out.

Falisha and Darick turned around and saw the white haired teenaged girl in attire of royalty from the light side of the moon.

"How good of you to make it, Princess Serenity." Falisha nodded. "I thought you'd have gotten here before I did." She teased her.

Serenity smirked, putting up her hair into those balls on the sides of her head that her family was known for. "Well, I just got ran out of bed not too long ago. Forgive me for my absence."

Then a sudden blast of light shown throughout the castle. No one moved and no one was bothered by the sudden light and rumble.

Serenity sighed. "I didn't even have time to put my hair up properly." She finished wrapping her hair up. "There. Much better. So, when do we take the center stage?"

"Shortly." Prince Darick said, closing his eyes. In a fizzle of light he had changed into the armored Dark Knight. He looked at them through his mask. "I am waiting to see if any others will show. We really could use at least one guardian of Earth or Neptune, to stand a better chance. Though..." He bowed his masked face to her. "I know your crystal is mighty and could take out the first advance. I don't wont you to use up all your energy though."

Serenity nodded. "I understand. I'll hold off on using its full power until the moment arrives."

Serenity, Falisha, and Darick nodded to one other as another lighting strike sent a shock through the whole building.

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Back at Morcraft Castle; Rini, Hotaru, and the real Sesja went to check on Hora and found Ren by his side. Everyone stood there distance. "How could this happen? Why? Why Hora?" Ren asked calmly while clutching his big brother's hand. "He's innocent. He's never done anything. Nothing to no one. Why did he deserve this?" Tears came to the small boy's face. "And Jama. Why isn't Jama here?" The poor boy exclaimed with no one's reply. Just then Citara walked up behind them all. "I fear that these creatures are growing in power, even as we speak. If one of them were to have bitten enough people, they may have enough power within them to take a soul. Which is their main goal." She informed them off the top of her head.

Sesja looked back at her. "Yeah." Turning her head down. "I've seen this happen once."

"Really?" Rini quickly inquired.

Sesja nodded. "Yes. To me." She looked up.

Rini and Hotaru's eyes widened in shock. "You?"

Ren turned stunned. "Then if that's so. How do we save him? How do we save him?"

Sesja looked away. "I can't recall. All I know is I lost time, four years ago."

"How much time?" Hotaru asked coldly.

Sesja looked distort. "At least two weeks, maybe as much as two months. I can't recall the exact amount, but when I woke, Sapphire was there and she was crying. I don't remember what happened before that, but I'll never forget those eyes. So many tears. I..." Her voice and thought trailed off.

Citara put her hand on Sesja's shoulder. "Well, then. If we ever find Sapphire. Then we can ask her what happened. Now can't we, Sesja?"

Sesja nodded turning her head low to Citara. "Yes. I suppose we can. I only fear she's fled. She has abandoned me before."

Everyone listened and contemplated her words. Yet, no one found anything to reply to looking at Hora laying on the table with the healers coming back into the room. Escorting the distant and scared Ren out of the room before going about their work.

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While in the forest, the fake Sesja stood looking down at the castle. Her back straight and proud and powerful. With the panther sisters beside her.

Basha glared at the fake Sesja. Then over to her sister in Jama's body.

The fake Sesja drifted away with the sudden light breeze. Leaving white hair, blank eyes, and a pale faced girl. "You shall do well to not cross me."

Basha glared at Sapphire in challenge. "You do not frighten me."

Sapphire turned to her. Her blank eyes glared boldly and fearlessly at her. "You should fear me. For I can take that soul back."

Basha looked over to her sister. Lowering her head in defeat. "As you wish."

Sapphire looked down to the castle. "The hunt is going well. Mistress Citara's plan is working quite well. All we need to do is wait for her to return to us. For further instructions." Her white hair flowing in wisps.

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 19**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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"Oh, hi there. I didn't see you." Melina smiled as she saw the senshi rounding the corner.

"Hi!" Sapphire said back. "How're things going out here? Everything's still quiet I guess?" She inquired.

"Yeah, pretty much I guess." The guardswoman confirmed. "Being posted all the way in the back here all the time, I guess I can't expect much though..." She said wistfully.

"You wish they'd give you a posting where you'd get to do more, I take it?" Sapphire asked casually, her gaze absently flirting about, not really alighting on anything in particular.

"Oh, no! I mean, well, sometimes I wish that I guess." Melina confessed. "I just want to be of help, as much as I can. But I know I'm dong that where I am... Even if it doesn't seem that way sometimes."

"That's very true." Sapphire nodded, looking back at her with an approving smile. "Someone needs to protect everyone else when they sleep after all." She looked around again. They were in a rather spacious foyer on the left rear side of Morcraft Castle. Beyond the doors was were about half of the castle's residents slept, a mixture of guardians other residents. The soldier's lodgings being mixed with the other residents so they would be close at hand in case of emergency.

"Yeah." Melina sighed. "Especially with those two panther demons about... Truth speaking, that gives me the creeps something fierce. And poor Jama." She said regretfully. "Her just taken over by one of them like that. I tell you this: If I ever find the person responsible for that, I'll give'm the full benefit of my years of training and battle experience, that's for sure." She pledged.

"Is that so? Well, whoever that is, I'd hate to be them... Or wait. That's right..." She turned to look at Melina with a wicked Cheshire smile. "I am them." She moved towards the Jupiter Guard with a casual confidence.

"Wha...?" Melina backed away slightly. "You can't mean..." She was completely bamboozled by this for a moment, but as Sapphire drew closer, the guardswoman instinctively readied herself for a fight none-the-less.

"I guess this works out then, doesn't it?" She teased her. "Now you'll get the chance to make good on your boast. Maybe you'll even kill me? And won't that be exciting? ...but, you know? Somehow, I just have to doubt you'll be the one who has any chance of getting in my way tonight...." She paused. "These three on the other hand, they might give me a run for my money." She looked behind her and saw Sesja, Rini, and Hotaru walking towards her from all sides, disappointed and resigned looks on their faces. "So, what was it that gave me away, girls? And here I thought I was really making a splash with my amazing acting skills." She said lightly.

"Sapphie, please. You didn't really think this wouldn't occur to me, did you? One of my friends has been acting all kinds of weird and elusive, she has a history of soul sucking, my own soul I'm now thinking having been among the sucked - you don't really think I'm not going to doubt Citara's less than convincing excuse about the cat twins suddenly growing a new power, do you? That I wouldn't at least try to rule out the possibility?" Sesja replied grimly.

"Well, that's good. For a minute there, I thought I might not have been as talented an actress as I'd thought I was." She gave them a friendly smile that stopped Sesja in her tracks a moment, so much did she appear like her friend before all this had happened.

"Please. Just give up - Give this up Sapphie... We'll help you. I'll help you. It doesn't have to be like this." Sesja pleaded. Rini echoing her sentiments as well.

"You know, that's really very nice of you to offer me that... You're really good friends to have. Especially you Sesja, you've always been there for me, I know. And I appreciate that, really I do." She said in a eerily sincere sounding voice. "The thing is though, I guess you just weren't good enough, now were you? Not good enough to save me... Not good enough to save your mom and dad.. Not good enough to see how much in trouble your brother was before it was too late... Not good enough to stop him... Not good enough to do anything worthwhile at all, really... Not even good enough... to save this one woman when she's right in front of you!" She turned to fiercely attack Melina before Sesja even registered what happened.

It looked like she'd succeed too, but that was before the blunt end of Hotaru's Silence Glaive hit the Earth Senshi in the chin with a resounding blow that sent her to the ground a few feet away. "Stop speaking. Now." Hotaru said menacingly.

Sapphire picked herself off the ground a little and turned to look at them. She started to laugh a little at first. "Well... it's good to see SOMEone around here has some backbone at least. I guess that's lucky for you isn't it?" She gave Sesja a pointed look that caused the Jupiter senshi's eyes to widen a little and sent Sapphire it to a storm of evil-ish laughter as she melted into a whiff of shadow and was gone, her laughter hanging in the air a little, even after she was gone.

Sesja just looked at her disappear, feeling a little in shock. She dropped down to her knees and angrily hit the ground with her fist. "Damn..." She whispered. "Damn, damn, damn it!!" She cried. A few tears escaping her eyes as she got up off the ground and stocked off, rebuffing Rini's attempts to comfort her as she went.

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Meanwhile, a few planets distant...

"Oh, hey there Falisha. What are you doing out here?" Darick asked as he stepped out onto the balcony.

"Mmm, just getting some air I guess. Tomorrow's a big day after all... Battle to the death and everything. That just sounds like such a good time, doesn't it?" She said, rather less that truthfully.

"Mm" Darick agreed, ever the master wordsmith. He walked over to the edge of the balcony next to her and looked out over his kingdom. He could see the fires from recent battles and skirmishes off far in the distance. They had lost the areas around the main city to the invaders in the days previous. "We managed to evacuate most of them, you know..." He finally spoke. "Some brave people lost their lives making sure we got everyone out we could... But even if we win tomorrow, those people will still be dead, and the people we had to evacuate will still be homeless... What kind of beasts is it, that destroys, just to have something to destroy?" He looked over at Falisha with a question in his eyes.

She sighed and looked back over at him. "The kind that... don't have any homes of their own, I guess... Not like we have I mean, not real homes. Not the kind that can be filled with good memories of people who care about one another. This kind of... beast, this kind of being, they don't have that. Maybe they never did, maybe they had it once, but lost it or gave it up. For a being like that, seeing those homes, filled with things they could never have, it must have been unbearable. I'd imagine, it made them angry to see it. Jealous. Resentful... All those things that happen when love and kindness is taken out of the equation... I'd feel sorry for them I think, if I didn't feel more for the ones they hurt."

Darick looked over at her finally. A very small hopeful smile coming to his face. "Thanks." He said simply. "I think I needed someone to remind me just what it was I was fighting for..." He looked off into the distance again.

"You really miss her, don't you?" Falisha said, placing her hand over Darick's on the balcony's railing to show her support and understanding.

"Yeah, I... I..." He closed his eyes. "For so long now, she's all I've fought for, all I've believed in... I never thought I was good enough for her, but she thought I was... She saw something in me I've never really been able to see in myself, and... it made my life mean something. I halfway started to believe it was true too, that maybe I WAS worth as much as she thought I was..." He opened his hand and looked down at the fragment of a jewel he had once put so much faith in. "I guess now I know, I was right all along... I never deserved her, right from the start..." He turned and started to storm away, but Falisha caught his am as he went.

"Darick, no! That is NOT true. It's not!" Falisha protested adamantly. "I know something about things like this Darick, I know better than most in fact. And I can tell you this. You have to believe what she said to you, you have to believe in her choice. She chose you!"

"And now she chose something else." Darick looked back at her angrily. "She chose something else. Maybe Some ONE else for all I know! And I'm stuck here, stuck fighting a war I don't think I even want to fight anymore..."

Falisha let go of his arm. "Huh." She said as she turned away from him. "Maybe you where right and I was wrong." She said. "Maybe you don't deserve her. You may be hurting, you may even be a man who's had his heart ripped out a little, but if you're the kind of person who looks at that scene out there and sees fighting for those people, those people who look to you to keep them safe, and see it as nothing but a burden! Then maybe you're right, and you never did deserve her."

"Falisha..." He looked at her, his eyes going a little round as the realization of what she'd said sank in. "You're right. You're right... I don't really think that way. It's not a burden... THEY aren't a burden. I just... I..."

"You miss her." Falisha smiled at him sympathetically.

"Yeah..." Darick looked up into the night sky and saw the Earth overhead. "Yeah, I miss her..."

Falisha walked over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Don't worry, we'll get through this. We'll win tomorrow, and then you'll see her again some day soon. I promise." She whispered reassuringly.

Darick looked down at her and brought his hand to the side of her head. "Thank you." He said back in a quiet voice as he heard a noise from behind him.

Out of the corner of his eye he caught a flash of movement, and before he could turn to see what it was, he felt himself being roughly jerked away from the senshi from Venus - the hard, blunt force of a powerful fist slamming into his jaw with violent force, sending him to land hard on the ground.

Looking up, realization of what was happing hit him as he saw who it was who'd hit him. "Onyx, wait! It's not what you think!" He tired to tell his very hot tempered brother in law.

"The hell it isn't!" He spat, kicking him in the side, and not holding back in the least either. "My sister's gone a month and you go chasing after another woman?! I never liked you, never trusted you - and here you are, proving me right all along!" He glared at his brother in law who was scrabbling to get to his feet. "You never deserved her! I'll never understand what she even saw in you in the first place, but you can BET that's all going to be over now, once I tell her what's been going on while she's been away helping someone who really DESERVES the help!"

"Onyx, wait!" Falisha implored him.

"No! I don't think so. I hope you two will be very happy together. I'll make SURE to give my sister your regards when I see her." He glared at the Venus senshi before turning and stalking off.

"Oh, Darick, I'm... I'm so sorry, I..." Falisha was beginning to panic as she realized what was happening.

"No, it's not you're fault... It's just history."

"But... Shouldn't we go after him? It sounded like he was--"

"Going to Jupiter? Yeah, I'd be very surprised if he wasn't. But there's no use in trying to get in his way. Trust me on that. His head is about the thickest substance I've yet to encounter. He won't believe a word either of us say - I doubt he ever would if we all lived to be a thousand years old." Darick got a lost look on his face and went back to staring out at the city.

Falisha looked at him a moment, shook her head, and took off after Onyx - determined to try to convince him of the truth, despite what her friend had said.

After trying for an hour to find a trace where Sapphire's brother had gone though, she hadn't even succeeded in finding the man. Frustrated, she found a place to sit down and think. After a few minutes though, an idea came to her and she got out her communicator devise, punched in a series of commands, and waited for the call to go though.

"Hello?" A friendly face came onto the small viewer screen. "Falisha? Is that you? It's great to hear from you." The woman on the screen answered.

"Yeah, it's great to hear your voice again too Tasha. Especially now..."

"What's wrong?" The reply came back.

"Among other things, I think I may have really messed up epically this time. Do you think you might be able to send someone to Jupiter for me?" She asked hopefully.

"Sure, I'd be happy to. I can probably go over and see to it myself if you need me to. What's going on?" Her friend asked in concern.

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Back on Jupiter, about an hour after the incident with Sapphire. Sesja lay alone in her room, her thoughts a million miles away. She'd come into her room a few minutes prior and just plopped down on her back on the mattress, not bothering to change clothes or do anything else. They had searched the grounds for any signs of Sapphire or Citara, but found none at all. She'd made sure to secure all the castle's residents as much as she could, but her head was pounding more and more with a very bad stress headache by that time, and she just HAD to get out of there, get some time to herself before she lost her mind completely.

"How did things get so royally screwed up, is what I want to know." The tired senshi grumbled irritably to herself.

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to be continued


	7. Chapters 20 to 21

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 20**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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...Sapphire just roamed around Morcraft Castle a while, searching out the many levels of the castle on her own volition. She did this until she felt a summons, disappearing into the shadows one more time when she was called. A quick transition later, she stood face to face with Doom and Dusk.

"You have summoned me?"

Doom nodded to her. "Yes, our prince wants to see you."

Dusk smirked. "Yes." She hissed out. "He wants to see you." She eyed her up and down.

Sapphire nodded. "As he wishes." She turned and walked down a dark hallway. Doom looked to his sister, Dusk - the two ravens sharing silent, knowing looks between them in silent revelry.

As for Sapphire, she traveled along the shadowed ways on her way until finally, she stood at the end of the hall in front of some huge metal monster of a door. Only a few glimmers of light burning, mounted on the walls above.

Soon after her appearance, the doors groaned open, just enough to let the darkness from within reach out to Sapphire's feet.

"Come." A dark voice beckoned from inside.

Sapphire's white hair flowed behind her moved forward as was enveloped by the darkness. She continued in until she heard the huge doors shut behind her, and then stood silent, waiting.

She didn't need to wait long before an eerie blue light began to grow from the center of the room. Slowly, it illuminated the dark and bleak cement walls of Jupiter's Royal Palace. Near the center of that strange light, a figure was beginning to show from atop a high throne shrouded in the dark.

Sapphire looked up and sighed, a smirk growing across both sides of her face.

The figure looked down at her as his dark hair was finally illuminated, a cloak of seemingly living shadow could be seen flowing down his mescaline body. "Good of you to finally stop by and see me, dear Sapphire. We haven't seen one another in so long, after all." Toro spoke in a soft voice.

Sapphire bowed her head politely. "I am so sorry. I didn't know you wanted to see me so badly."

The prince of Jupiter stood and began to walk down the steps of the high thrown. "Of course." He waved the apology off. "I have been looking forward to seeing you again though, see you. You are the one I have desired most."

Sapphire looked up at the man coming towards her. "I?" She feigned surprise. "But I am just your servant now, aren't I? What could someone like you want with me?" She smiled at him deceptively.

Toro stood before her, head taller than her, he was athletically muscular, yet displaying the sort of delicate, refined features and appearance that one would expect from royalty. The jet dark hair that framed his face and the blackness in his eyes made his paler skin stand out almost like it glowed. "I've always wanted you." He said smoothly. "You've always belonged to me. You've simply been unaware of it until now."

Sapphire tilted her head and smiled, her manner just slightly mocking. "But, Toro, how could you? I am your sister's friend after all, and I am supposedly taken already. Don't you remember?"

Toro just smirked back at her, his eyes seeming to spark. "Oh, don't play with me. We both know none of that matters. I'll have what I want, and that is you."

Sapphire tilted her head back and looked at him in his dark face. "You shall have what you want, then"

Toro leaned in and kissed her passionately. While Sapphire kissed him back just as passionately. Seeming to forget all she ever was for that moment in time.

Toro lifted his head and looked down at her. "You truly are free. Aren't you?"

Sapphire looked up at him in a daze. "Of course. I would have killed you before. In one way or another." She said as she put her arm around his shoulder in a familiar fashion. "But now, I am free and I'll be what you want me to be."

Toro nodded. "Good, then you shall do as I order. Correct?"

Sapphire nodded slowly. "Of course. I am a servant now."

Toro smiled, his face looking deceptively sweet. "Then you shall return to Morcraft Castle and keep an eye on my sister. If you see her have joy. I want you to take it away. The sooner I can kill her spirit, the sooner I can begin my true reign upon this world, with you as my queen."

Sapphire's arm slithered down from his shoulder. "I will enjoy that I think. But a queen." She eyed him. "I'm more of an 'empress of darkness'. Don't you think?"

Toro lightly pulled his hands across her jaw. "Oh, why not? Now, go and do my bidding."

Sapphire touched his hand and kissed it. "As you wish my prince." Then she disappeared into shadows.

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Meanwhile, back at Morcraft Castle, Sesja found herself in a silent daze. She pulled herself off the bed and to a chair, looking out the window at the garden below and seeing dawn's morning light draw across the land before her.

_--I don't understand... Why this is all happening.. First Toro... then my parents. Could Sapphire be right? Could they really be gone? Did Toro kill them?--_ Sesja shuttered away from the thought. _--I feel so alone.--_ She thought to herself, curling her head in her crossed arms on the castle window ledge. _--I don't see how this all unraveled so fast around me. How I could just let this happen.--_ She sighed, falling into herself. All of the sudden though, she could feel a presence in the room behind her. She turned around, glancing from one corner to the next. Her face turning sour and angered. "Who are you? Why have you come here? Are you going to kill me? If so, I dare you to try." She spoke grimly, more than ready for a good fight about then.

From the shadows in the corner, by her wardrobe closet, Citara walked out. "Kill you? No, I am not here to kill you. I am just here to keep watch over you. I overheard you and Sapphire... You seemed like you needed a friend." Her cerulean eyes gazed at her in an odd sort of way that was almost familiar

Sesja rose to her feet. "It's none of your business. I will take care of her on my own. I don't need you. Did you forget so soon? I know you're a liar just like her. I figured you out. So, unless you wont to die. Get out!"

Citara smiled, yet it seemed sad somehow. "As you wish. But, I am only trying to help you. I thought, perhaps I could be of service to, to the noble princess of Jupiter... You needed help, and I was willing to give it to you."

Sesja stared back at her, her face turning stony. "Your help? I do not need your help. You are the enemy and I will destroy you as soon as I have proof, I promise I will. So do you hear me, Citara? I don't need you or anyone like you." She said coldly, a shiver running through her body for something unknown. "Now, get out!!" She pointed Citara to the door.

Citara bowed her head, her long pale blonde locks falling down over her shoulders. "As you wish..." She started to fade back into the shadows. "I just thought you'd like to know perhaps, where your brother is hiding these days?..."

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 21**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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"Uhm, what? Where my brother is hiding? What the hell is that even supposed to mean?!" Sesja fumed. "He's in the capital, he's got an army, he's... Why am I even listing to this?"

"Oh, I don't know. Why are you listing to this? Maybe you'd like to know what I'll say? ...He's not really in his castle you know..." She teased her.

"All right fine, where is he then?" Sesja demanded.

Faster than she could see, Citara came right up next to her and whispered in her ear. "He's right behind you..."

Sesja whiled around, pushing Citara away from her, electricity crackling around her. But there was no one there of course, and she heard a eerily familiar light laughter in the air. "You're so easy." Citara said mirthfully, but when Sesja turned around, the dark woman with the pale blonde hair was gone, the curtains rustling slightly in the wind at her passing.

She blinked a few times and backed away until she was able to fall down to sitting on the edge of her bed. "No way..." She breathed to herself as she looked at the window blankly.

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The sky was filled with soft white clouds, the air calm as she drifted high in the sky while the new day began to dawn. She could see the sun rise in the far off horizon, and the colors and warm light began to fill the sky and give her an amazing view as she flew gracefully on.

"You're completely ignoring him, you know..." A haunting melodious voice spoke to her, though she couldn't tell from where it came exactly.

"Dusk." Sapphire smiled in recognition. "And where's your brother this fine morning, if I can ask?" She'd meant to go on to Morcraft, but as she flew, she'd realized she that she just didn't care enough to go. She just wanted to fly and not think about anything for a while.

"Oh, I'm sure he's keeping himself entertained..." The smooth voice said as the form of a tall woman dressed all in black, with long raven hair and dark black wings much like Sapphire's own dropped down from above to fly by her side. "I thought it would be more fun to see just what you were up to though. What is that by the way?" She asked conversationally.

"Oh, I'm just out for a little flying... paying a visit to a few old friends..." Sapphire responded, weaving into a cloud and gracefully twisting around a little in a lazy fashion to appear in an unexpected place.

"You're good at this." Dusk complemented her from over her shoulder.

"You're better though, it seems." Sapphire smiled wryly at the raven, who darted around to get behind her again.

"I've been at it a lot longer than you have." She said from behind her, but by the time Sapphire turned, she was gone, dropping down from above to appear in front of her again.

"And how long has that been, exactly?" Sapphire questioned as they continued on their way.

"Ah, ah, a woman never tells." Dusk replied.

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-- "Lightning! -- She called out, blasting the attacking panther and destroying it and returning some poor unconscious person somewhere on the castle grounds to wakefulness.

"This is insane!" Sesja fumed. "We have to find them." She grumbled as she went off down the hall. Two of the castle's Jupiter guards, Rowena and Nellin as a matter of fact, dutifully following along. It had been like this for the whole day so far. Panthers. All over the castle, there were black panthers stalking about.

There had been incidents like this going on ever since Basha & the new Bastette had made their reappearance, but they'd been relatively few and the three senshi, along with the Jupiter guard, had been managing to keep the problem in check. But now, it seemed that the two panther demons were stepping up their hunting again. So far though, Basha and her sister had been nowhere to be found. Sesja had been at this since midmorning without a rest, and she was steadily getting angrier and angrier as time went on.

"Princess!" Nellin called. "Look!"

"I TOLD you, just Sesja is fine. You don't have to call me..." but her words trailed off as she looked out at the courtyard from were they were on the castle's second floor inner corridor. The corridor was in the open air and you could see down at the courtyard it surrounded every ten feet or so. As she looked down, she could see Hotaru and Basha in a pitched battle down below. Panthers circling the pair, Bastette hanging back and observing the scene.

Sesja didn't waste much time in jumping off the corridor and heading towards the fight, using her attacks to scatter the panthers and make her way to Basha and Hotaru. "Suine! Please, stop this!" She called out. Bastette grabbed her from behind through, and tried to wrestle her to the ground.

"Stay away from my sister." Bastette growled at the Jupiter senshi as they struggled. A short way away from them though, the ruckus gave Hotaru an opening to get some leverage on her opponent and push her away then knock her to the ground with her glaive. The Saturn senshi was immediately set upon by the surrounding pack of panthers though, and she was feeling very overwhelmed by the onslaught.

"Hahahaha" Basha laughed at her vindictively as she picked herself off the ground.

-- "Moon tiara magic!" -- The panther demon heard, her fur bristling and a cold shill running through her at the all too familiar voice. Three of the panthers attacking Hotaru were destroyed by the tiara, and as it returned to it's owner, Basha turned to confront the senshi from the moon.

"You!" Basha growled deeply as she sprinted for the senshi in pink, more like a bull than a cat.

Rini was shocked at the attack and the fierce angry growl, but still managed to jump out of the way at the last moment. Unfortunately, Basha whiled and pounced on her before her adversary could again react.

"Get off me Jama!" Sesja broke Bastette's hold on her and turned her around with the same movement, throwing the panther demon to the ground. Bastette growled at the Jupiter senshi and mentally commanded two of her panthers to attack her. She was intent on Sesja, but as she heard Sailor Moon's attack called out and turned to see her sister attacking the girl in pink with such ferocity, all that was quickly forgotten as something inside of her changed.

"This time, I'll tear you to peaces little girl, I won't loose again!" Basha threatened as she raised her clawed hand to strike at Rini's face. The Moon senshi's eyes widening with terror.

The blow never came though, her hand was held back by another just as strong. "What is?!" Basha whiled around to see her sister holding her hand back. She also saw the sharp end of Hotaru's glaive heading right for her and she yanked her hand away from her sister's who let it go just in time for her to avoid the attack.

Her eyes full of hate, Basha rushed forward again to attack Rini, who was picking herself up off the ground. "Basha, stop!" Bastette got in front of her sister and held her back from attacking.

"Sister?" Basha looked at her. "What are you doing?" She questioned bewilderedly.

"Sister, we have to stop this." Bastette pleaded. "Rini and Hotaru and Sesja, they're our friends. Can't you remember that?"

"No, I can't!" Basha growled, struggling to get free of her sister's grip to attack her enemies again. "Let me go Bastette, don't you remember what they did to you? What they tried to do to me?!"

"I remember. I remember they tried to help us." Bastette told her in a calm voice.

"What's... what's the matter with you? Let me go!" Basha looked at her sister uncomprehendingly. "If you don't let me go, they'll turn us back, they'll send us away!" She was pleading now, and only offering token resistance. "Please, I don't want to fight you too." She begged her sister.

"Then don't fight me." Bastette said softly. "It'll be all right, sister. I promise it will. Just trust me, okay? You're my sister, I love you."

Basha looked into her sister's eyes a moment and then stopped struggling completely and nodded her head. "I trust you." She said, looking around a little nervously.

Bastette moved forward and hugged her sister. As the other panther sister relaxed into the hug, their pack of panthers began to fade away into nothing again.

The two sisters separated, and Bastette looked at Rini. "Please." she said. "Take the darkness away?"

Rini nodded and raised her Crescent Moon Wand over hear head and spoke -- "Moon, Healing, Activation!" --

As the light and energy fell over them, the sisters did not fight it this time, they just let it happen.

Who stood before the three senshi as the moon light magic faded away were two cats with rich dark golden fur and hair, who smiled at them and both spoke. "Thank you." As their shapes shimmered and faded away to reveal the familiar shapes of Jama and Suine, their friends.

"That was quite a show." They all heard a voice say from behind them.

They all turned and saw who was standing there. "Tasha?" Sesja questioned, a bright smile coming to her face as she ran over and gave the senshi from Uranus a strong hug. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her spirits feeling in much better shape now that her two friends had been just returned to her. Seeing another of her fellow senshi here, one whom she'd been friends with since she was a child, was enough to send her heart soaring with new hope.

"Falisha sent me." She said to her happy friend as she stood back and they looked at each other. "It seems Sapphire's brother's on his way here with some crazy ideas about, well, we'll get into that later." She said abashedly. "What's going on around here? I had to fight my way through the planet's own guard just to get here!"

"You don't know?" Sesja questioned. "I thought you'd... wait, you did receive my calls for help, didn't you?"

"Calls for.... No, no of course not!" Tasha protested. "If I had, I would have been here. You know that." She pledged.

"Wait, if you didn't receive them... did anyone else? I know Sapphire did. And... Rini? Hotaru? What about you two...?" Sesja turned to her two friends.

"Um... well, no, not exactly..." Rini confessed. "We sort of happened here by chance..."

"By chance?" Sesja repeated.

"Wait, I was meaning to ask you: Who are they?" Tasha asked.

"You don't know?" Sesja looked at Tasha in question. "This is Rini, and that's Hotaru. They're the senshi from the Moon and Saturn..."

"No. They are not." Tasha said, now looking at the two other senshi with suspicion. "The senshi of the moon is Princess Serenity, Queen Selene's daughter. I've met both her and Hisa Keneshi, the senshi of Saturn. They aren't them, Sesja." She accused. "Who are you?" She asked the two.

"Well, you see..." Rini began. "It's really a long story... We're sort of from the future." She admitted.

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"All you do is sit in this castle all day and brood, Toro my boy.... brood and plot your little schemes... Not that we haven't enjoyed your little schemes of course - we have - but, it is getting a little boring, don't you think?"

"Watch your tone, raven. Don't forget who the master is around here. I freed you. You are my servants." Toro glowered.

"Oh, of course we are, of course we are." Doom smirked. "Never doubt it, my liege. It's just that... Well, you know you can't trust her, don't you?" Doom said in that devious way of his.

"What do you mean, raven?" The king leveled a dark glare at the man in dark robes. "What have you heard? Speak!" But the man was not there anymore.

"She's going to kill you." Doom whispered into Toro's ear from behind him. The king whirled to face the raven, but he was gone again. Only the soft strands of mocking laughter and a raven's cry could be heard drifting through the air.

"What do you mean?!" He demanded. " Raven, come back here! Do you hear me?! I command you!" He fumed as he rose from his throne and looked around the room. Silence his only response.

_--It should be interesting to see who will win--_ The raven thought darkly to himself as he perched in the shadows, watching his supposed king and master pace around in worry. _--Yes indeed my sister, I think we're in for quite a show.--_

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She sat in the well adorned charmer, looking across at the prone and lifeless bodies that lay before her, a pensive look on her face.

Vira, Joal, and Pen Windrush: Laethyn Windrush's wife and sons. A couple guardsmen and an attendant lay scattered about too. All of them, their souls having been forcefully torn away and consumed.

Sapphire gave them one last curious look, as though she was trying to decide if the scene before her were reality of fiction. The question was a strange one though, and she dismissed it almost apathetically as she got up and walked over to the large window across the room.

"Well, you really know how to have a good time, I'll give you that girl." Dusk said as she appeared next to her and walked over to her. "I can't remember when I've enjoyed myself quite so much as I have today... Thank you." She smiled at the girl next to her, who was looking out across the scene of the city around her.

Skycrest's capital city, and it was in chaos. Fires burring out of control in areas, people running in the streets, panicked. It looked like an earthquake had hit them almost, except the buildings weren't nearly that damaged.

"Yes, well, I live to serve." Sapphire said distractedly.

"Do you?" Dusk asked. "And why do I doubt your words' sincerity? ...You could be back in Morcraft playing with shiny sparkler girl like a good little minion you know... What about Toro? Aren't you worried he'll be mad at you? Don't you want to please him?"

"Not really, not anymore at least... I was thinking about eating him, actually..." She looked over at Dusk with a completely straight face.

Dusk blinked once, and then started to laugh uncontrollably.

To which, Sapphire only gave a little bit of an amused smile.

"Would you mind if did that?" Sapphire asked.

"Dear girl, if you can keep making me laugh like that, I really don't mind if you eat everyone on the planet... There are eight more to choose from, after all." She flashed Sapphire a very dark and wicked smile and then turned and flew off into the setting sun.

Sapphire stood there a moment, locked in her place. The look in Dusk's eyes when she'd smiled at her, it had sent chills through her like nothing ever had before. It was like staring into a darkness so vast and endless, if you fell into it, you'd never see light again... and for the first time since this had began again with her, Sapphire felt truly afraid.

Shaking herself out of it, she looked around the room once more, and then out at the city below, and as she did, a sinking feeling of loneliness overtook her... "I need to find someone to eat." She said to herself as she spread her wings and left the room.

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to be continued


	8. Chapters 22 to 23

**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 22**

**by Shelley Dream of Trista's Timely Tales**

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Back in the yard of Morcraft Castle, Jama stood a bit dazed beside her friend Suine. Looking at Rini and Hotaru as they explained they were from the future.

Jama batted her eyes. "So, Marin let you pass thru time? Is that what your saying?"

Rini batted her eyes back. "Marin, who's Marin?"

Sesja spoke up. "Marin is the keeper of time space. She's… She's…." She looked away and built up her courage to say it. "She's Sapphire's younger sister. She was chosen to guard the time space portal. You see."

Suine nodded. "Exactly, so how did you get here. If not by her?"

Rini pulled out her hidden necklace with the time key on it. "I have the time key. Given to me by the senshi of Pluto in my time. Her name is Trista and she's my friend." She looked down at it sadly. "I'm not sure if she survived." Her eyes grew misty.

Everyone watched her and saw her emotions were true. So, her story had to be true. As horrible a tale as it was.

Tasha stood proudly. "Alright, Rini, future queen of the moon, we'll aid you in your fight. Can you take us back with you?"

Rini nodded. "I think so..."

Sesja put her hand out in protest. "We can't do that yet. We have to protect our present in order to have her future."

Tasha looked at her a bit bewildered. "Alright, but what is going on? You said something about sending out a summons to everyone and something about Sapphire coming. If she's here. Then where is she?"

Sesja gritted her teeth and closed her eyes. Then brought her head up proudly. "My twin brother, Toro has turned into my worst enemy. He wants to take over the whole planet and he's become evil enough that it will be a worse disaster if he ever does it. This, along with my parents disappearing - I'm not sure if they are alive or dead. And Sapphire..." She looked to the side. "Sapphire has been broken. She's turned evil and is now stealing the souls of those around her. Just like she took mine a few years ago." Then her mind clicked and she looked over to Jama.

Jama's face turned pale and concerned. "What?"

"She's also taken Hora's spirit."

Jama's jaw hit the floor. Her body shook in disbelief and fear. "Hora. Where is he. Where is he!"

"In the medical ward. Level four." Sesja announced.

Jama bolted to the front doors of the palace, Suine following her, her face betraying her concern. As she rushed in though Jama hit a electric security barrier that had been erected to protect those inside from the panthers and she was thrown back.

Immediately, Sesja lifted her hand and drew the power back. "Jama, go. Go."

Jama got to her feet and ran inside. Rushing to her brother's side and found Ren faithfully by his side. She slowly and shocked walked to his side.

Ren seen her and rushed to her. Crying.

Jama put her hands around his small head and looked at Hora's lifeless body.

Suine watched this, and her hear went out to them so much. To her, it was like Jama actually was her sister now or something. That meant Hora and Ren were family too, didn't it?

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…Sapphire flew off and found a cottage in the outer areas of Skycrest. She felt weak and landed by a rickety old barn. She held to herself getting chills up and down her whole body. Her pale flesh grew even paler. _--Eat.. I must find someone to eat...--_ She told herself.

Then a quite voice from inside spoke._ --No, you mustn't anymore. You must let them go. They are making you sick.--_

She turned away from herself. --No, no they aren't. It's not true. I must eat. You know I must or I'll die.--

--Just like you had to eat your best friend's soul all those years ago?-- The voice inquired

Her eyes shifted to the ground and a smirk grew across her face. _--Oh, I know what your doing. I know who you are. You can't convince me otherwise. I made my choice. I betrayed them all. All so they wouldn't have to protect me any longer!--_

The voice was quiet.

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Jama sat crying by Hora's bedside for an hour straight. She knew not what to do and she could not bring herself to speak to anyone. Suine knew this, and just stayed by her side silently. Others came, but Jama shut the door to the room and screamed at them to stay out. Feeling helpless and powerless. Knowing what it was like to be held under someone else's will. She couldn't allow anyone else near her brother right now. She needed to be with her family. The brother she vowed to take care of not so long ago. Yet, in the mist of her crying all she found she could do was cry out to God. Any God that would listen and through it all she slowly felt peace within herself. Like someone was there telling her it would be alright.

"Please, if you can save him. Please, save him. I need him back. He's all I have left. Don't take him from me."

Suine put an arm around her sister, trying to think of something to say but nothing coming to mind.

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Sapphire lay behind the barn shivering in the warmth of the setting sun.

_--You cannot run, or hide from me.-- _The small voice said quietly.

Sapphire heard it loud and clear. _--Why? No, go away. You can't save me. Not again. Just let me go.-- _

_--No. I love you. I won't leave you.--_

Sapphire turned her face away.

_--Let them go. Just let them all go. You'll feel better. You know you will. Just remember Sesja.--_ The small voice reminded her.

_--No, no. I won't do it. I need them. I'll die without them. I don't wont to die. I don't wont to become good, again. It hurts to much. They all won't to leave me anyway. They all want so much from me. Just let me go. Why wont you let me go?--_ Her heart yearned for the answer. Hiding from the darkness.

_--Because I love you. Because you are better then this.--_

Sapphire turned away and held herself tighter. Feeling the goodness within her start to bubble and beam. Yet, she quieted it with her own darkness. Then she felt something and sighed looking to the distance. "They're free." She smirked. "No more panther girls to deal with." Then her eyes lowered to sadness. "Now, Jama is back as well."

Suddenly, she felt herself grow so weak and tired. Feeling herself remember Sesja so long ago. Remembering how it hurt inside to hold Sesja's spirit within her. Knowing, she would no longer smile and laugh with her. She looked up to the dimming sky and within one burst her body flashed white. Her eyes consumed with white and her dirty wings flashed bright white. As all the soul's were released. _--I can start again.--_ She heard herself say feeling them all leave her. _--I can find more souls to take.--_ She felt her heart grow heavy. Then they were gone and she tumbled over. Her hair half white and the other half strawberry blonde. Her eyes torn between elusive green and dark/nothingness.

_--What will you choose? Life or death? You know the answer.--_ The voice told her.

Sapphire felt how weak she was inside and out. _--They cannot save me. No one can save me.--_ A tear fell down her face across her nose. Knowing exactly who and what the voice was and meant. God had repeated himself just as caring and loving and calm as he ever did within Sapphire's ears. She knew she'd have to make the same choice all over again. The same one she made all those years ago but this time. This time. Which choice would she make?

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Within Jama's hand she began to feel warmth grow within Hora's hand. She looked up dismayed and blinked. Seeing he had begun to take slow breaths. She jumped up from her chair and looked down at Hora. Slowly, watching his color come back. Then in one burst. Hora opened his eyes and popped up looking around scared.

Jama fell back and looked at him. She reached her hands around his face with tears streaming in big rivers down her face and began to comfort him. "Hey, you're okay. I'm here. I'm here. Your alright. Stay with me. Your okay. Your okay." She hugged him.

Ren watched and clung to Hora's hand. "Oh, your back. Your back. I'm so glad. I was all alone!!" He cried.

Suine just stayed to the side and watched, a genuine smile coming over her face again, along with a deep and residing sense of relief. Things were so different for her now, but looking at her sister there, holding her little brothers in her arms, she had to believe things would turn out all right after all.

Then from outside the room. Tasha, Sesja, Rini, and Hotaru looked in, hearing the commotion. Seeing Hora back to life brought tears to Rini and Sesja's eyes. Even Hotaru's eyes misted up a little as Jama gave them all a big smile and let them come in and see her brother and welcome him back. Tasha just closed her eyes, feeling relief that things weren't as bad as she'd feared. She waited to the last to go and say hi to the two kids.

So, after they left Jama, Suine, Hora, and Rin to get some rest (They'd all been through a big ordeal after all), the four senshi walked away and down to the second floor. Along the way, Sesja came up with a question for Tasha.

"So, Falisha called you to come here. Right?"

Tasha nodded. "Yes. She said that Sapphire's brother, Onyx, was coming to Jupiter for her."

"Ony? Why?" Sesja looked perplexed.

Tasha bit her lip and then coughed. "Well, Falisha told me that her and Darick were talking and Onyx misinterpreted what was going on. Lets just say Darick got the thrashing of his life, and now, Onyx is on his way to tell his sister the news. That her love is going after another women. Which isn't true." She informed Sesja.

Sesja listened and looked away. "I sure hope he comes to the palace. If he finds Sapphire before we do... There might be a lot of trouble. You know how he gets around her. He's so protective, and yet at the same time overly caring. Which at the moment, I have to say I envy. If that were the extent of my brother's sins..." She smirked mirthlessly to herself. "Oh how wonderful that would be" She shook her head. "But no such luck. So, I guess we've got another problem on our hands. Just what I needed."

"Um." Tasha agreed.

Sesja thought a moment. "Hey, wait. Do you know which ship he took? Maybe, we could get a signal through to him. To come to the palace?"

Tasha sparked with her finger up. "Yeah. I can ask Falisha if she knows. Maybe, they've figured out which one he's taken?"

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Back on the dark side of the moon, the dark dawn had come and everyone stood ready on the frontlines. The senshi of the Moon; along with Sailor Venus; Sailor Sun (Sapphire elder sister); Prince Derek; and the newly arrived senshi of Neptune, Princess Elise, stood their ground with the dark side's army at their back. They stood against the advancing forces of lighting, thunder, fire, and wind - all in the form of beasts that looked to be formed from the stuff of nightmares.

Prince Derek, the Dark Knight, stood his ground, and before the battle began he had one thought. _--Forgive me if I don't make it, Sapphire. I have always loved you.--_ Then he raised his hand and the two forces clashed at the boarder between Katherin and Jericho.

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**:: Sailor Moon Neo :: part 23**

**by J. Anne of Trista's Timely Tales**

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Her mind felt bland and void... She'd imagined a voice, soft and hard to hear at first, calling to her, but the voice was gone now... Everything seemed to be gone now, it was like she had no more feelings left in her and, as she walked out into the day before her and looked up at the clear sky, the sun shining down on her face, she decided she liked this feeling.

Her wings were gone, her power was gone, everything was just... still.

Were would she go? What would she do? She was thirsty, she knew that, and she could smell the scent of fresh water somewhere near by. A spring perhaps, or a stream? She closed her eyes and tried to tell which direction it was coming from.

"Onyx?" She blinked her eyes open. The presence she'd suddenly begun to feel an unmistakable one.

She looked around for her brother, a smile of anticipation coming to her face. Her brother was here... somewhere... were was he?

She looked around, couldn't see him. She could tell he was heading her way though, though how exactly she knew that, she didn't really know. And actually, as it turned out, she didn't really have much time to dwell on that as a crack of thunder split the peaceful sky above her and a lightning beast leaped clear over from the other side of the cottage and landed in front of her with a fierce growl directed back from whence it had came.

The cottage then abruptly burst to pieces and splinters and debris exploded out in all directions, blind instinct alone allowing Sapphire to dive to the ground and shield herself from the onslaught of wood and wreckage.

She looked up and saw her brother facing off against two lighting beasts, a third laying dead at his feat and slowly dissolving into nothingness as lightning beasts were wont to do when slain. He'd knocked one away from him, but the other had caught him blind and sunk it's teeth into his ribcage. Onyx screamed out in pain, but his eyes took on a wild look as the electricity flowed through him and rippled through his body with shearing pain. Through the pain though, he brought his hands to the neck of the beast and pushed it down towards the ground until it released it's bite on him, then he turned it aside and tossed it to the ground, taking ragged breaths and trying to catch a second wind.

Sapphire looked on, mesmerized by the sight. The thought to go and help him hadn't entered her mind, her mind was still mostly void... but as the other beasts attacked her struggling brother from behind and pinned him to the ground under it, a spark of something rose in her consciousness and she got up off the ground and ran over to him, shouting "Get away from him! Leave my brother alone!!!"

Onyx looked over at her and a feral smile crossed his lips as he recognized his sister and knew what she carried inside her. He closed his eyes and thought of moonlight.

Sapphire stopped in her tracks as a wave of something rose up from her and a ball of white light rose from out of her heart and moved towards Onyx's waiting hand.

As soon as the light touched the warrior's hand, it became a sword. Their family's Moonlight Sword. A smile came to his face as he swung the sword and loped off the beast's head. Getting to his feet, he charged the remaining beast and, in a flash of pure white light, he stood alone, the energy of the beasts who'd attacked him now cast to the winds.

"Sister." He smiled. "Gods of the heaves, it's good to see you!" He went over to her and enclosed her into a firm hug that lifted her a foot off the ground. "How have you been? I see things around here haven't quieted down much..." He looked around and saw the plumes of smoke in the distance.

A lighthearted smile came to Sapphire's face as she shook her head and went to give her brother a hug in return. "Onyx, oh, is it ever good to see you, I was... I, it's just really good you're here." She looked up at his face and a grin came to her face unbidden as she ruffled his hair affectionately. "I see our time apart hasn't dulled your fighting skills any." She gently teased him.

"Nor have they diminished the light in your eyes when you smile." He patted her head affectionately and sighed. "Would that I did not come with such dire news." He shook his head and walked over a ways with his sister following along until he found a patch out grass covered ground free of wood shrapnel.

He sat down and gazed out over the town below as his sister sat by him and leaned against his shoulder. "And what is this dire news you have for me?" She asked absently, her thoughts drifting back to happy memories from her childhood when she and her brother would sit like this on Earth at their home and look out over the ocean.

"It's Darick, I'm afraid..." He began.

"Darick?' Sapphire asked, it taking her a moment to even remember who that named belonged to. "I don't, I... I'd almost forgotten about him..." She said quietly.

Surprise registered on Onyx's face a moment as he looked over at his sister, then back out at the view before him. "Well it's just as well that you did, after what I saw that worthless little cur do, I dare say, you'll likely want to forget he ever existed... He's never been good for you Sapphire. I know I've said it before, but now there's not even a doubt left in my mind that I was right all along." Anger tinged his voice as he recalled the scene he'd walked in on.

He'd just meant to tell his no account future brother-in-law about some news he'd received, a message from Queen Selene herself in fact. She'd committed a battalion of her soldieries to help them in their struggle. That's all he'd come to say, but then he'd seen... and an anger had welled up within him as none he'd ever felt before, and he'd struck out. To think he'd actually been thinking to himself lately that he'd been wrong about Darick, that maybe, just maybe, his sister had been right and there was something worth while about that no account little dark side maggot. His mind raged at how foolish those thoughts had been. He'd been right all along, and he cursed himself for not being able to get his sister to see that before. But by all the gods, he'd see his failure set straight now, and he'd see to it that his sister never had to even set sight on that lying dark side trash again. That he swore.

And so he'd set off, bound for Jupiter. It had taken time to make plaint fall, but he had always been the resourceful sort, and luckily he'd sensed his sister's presence on the far side of Jupiter instead, were the guard was thinnest. From there, all it had taken was a fight with some thunder beasts and the call of the Moonlight Sword that his sister had taken with her for him to find his way. And now, here he was, his sister found, and the time had come to deliver his news. Though, in his heart, he felt so much sorrow at having to deliver it. For though he knew it was for the best, he also knew just as surely that what he was about to say would hurt his sister gravely. He only regretted that it was he that had to say this. No, what he regretted more was that he had not buried his sward in Darick Aleser's gut the first time they had met, that's what he regretted.

"Sapphire..." He began. "He hasn't been faithful to you... while you've been away... I saw, with my own eyes I saw him and Falisha together, kissing, as lovers would..." He looked over at her, a pained look on his face. "Sapphie, I'm sorry, I really am...The last thing I'd ever want to do is hurt you, I just... You deserve so much better than him... I know I've said that before, but it's true." He brought a gentle hand to brush her chin lightly and looked into her eyes, willing her to believe his words.

Sapphire just blinked back at him for a moment, as if not comprehending what he'd said. Then slowly a look of deep anger flashed across her eyes. The look deepened more and more.

"Sapphire?" Onyx questioned quietly.

"I have to go." Sapphire said in a low tone that was almost a growl. She got to her feet and dashed off into the woods. Onyx got up to follow her, but he'd been caught flat footed for a moment, and she always was a lot faster on her feet than he was. Never the less, as she approached the tree line, he got his feet under him and made to chase off after her.

He was half way to the forest line when he stopped in his tracks as an unwelcome familiar voice caught his attention.

"And just where do you think you're going, you mentally deficient oaf? Off to chase after your poor hurting little sister again?" Onyx turned to meet the gaze of the one he hated most in all the worlds. "Poor predictable little Ony boy." The man taunted darkly. "Guess things didn't go quite like you planned did they? You wanted her to think of you like a hero again, was that it? I stole that from you, didn't I?" His eyes bored into Onyx in taunting challenge. "Admit it, that's why you really hate me, isn't it? Jealously? Well here I am hero, think you can win back her heart from me? Let's have at it then!" He barked at him as he drew his sword.

"Oh, Darick, you don't know how long I've wanted you to say those very words to me, you fowl little piece of garbage." Light glowed in his hand and his Moonlight Sword was in his hand once moor. "I'm going to enjoy this." He rushed at Darick with not an ounce of mercy left in his heart for the man who would forever be his adversary until one killed the other.

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Meanwhile, not too far away in the forest, Sapphire heard the faint sounds of voices calling out behind her, but she didn't want to hear them, didn't want to hear anything, she just wanted to run and run until she couldn't run any more.

But, as the voices began to fade, the forest grew dark around her, and the shadows seemed to close in around her, and she stumbled, almost lost her footing.

Looking around, she could barely make out the shapes of things around her. Where was the sun's light? It was the middle of the day, where had all the light gone? She slowed to a walk for a moment, then a sound startled her and she bolted away from it, running headlong into the waiting arms of a familiar presence.

"A little lost, are you?" The soft voice ran through her, sending soft chills all over her body. She looked up into eyes that seemed elusive yet safe somehow. Familiar, welcoming even.

"Dusk." She breathed. "What are you doing... here."

"I miss my flying companion." She whispered. "I don't suppose you'd know were she was, would you?" The raven cupped Sapphire's cheek in the palm of her hand and stoked her hair a little.

"I..." She looked into those eyes... "I'm right here." She breathed, a familiar smile coming to her face as her thoughts returned to her as though they had never left. "Will you stay with me?" She asked the raven.

"Of course I will, always..." Dusk soother her, an impish grin playing at the edges of her mouth... "If you can keep up... Can you keep up with me, Sapphire? You're not going to run away again, are you? Because if you did, you know I'd hunt you down and kill you... You know that right?" Dusk smiled.

Fear flashed through Sapphire's eyes again, then a daring smile. "I'll take my chances." She grinned in challenge.

Dusk laughed. "Now there's my girl, the one who always makes me laugh." She ruffled Sapphire's hair some. "Let's fly!" She let out a raven's cry as she spread her wings and made for the sky above.

"Let's fly." Sapphire whispered to herself, looking back the way she came for just a fleeting moment before shaking her head and heading after the raven.

As she went away into the sky and broke into the light though, a few embers of light that had fallen off of her as she'd gone into the sky settled towards the ground and began to coalesce into the shape of a shimmering woman made of light. As those features came into stability, they took a familiar shape. They took the shape of Sapphire.

But, as the new being looked around, a bewildered look came to her face... "God..." She spoke... "I remember God... is that who I am?" She asked as she looked at the darkness around her and it fled from her. "It's... all I can remember, so that must be who I am I guess..." She said to herself as she started to walk deeper into the forest, not knowing exactly where she was going, but seeing something in her mind. The form of... a brother? "Do I have a brother?" She asked the silent wind.

"I... need to help him... I need to find... friends... I need friends..." She concluded. "Jupiter... Jupiter... Jupiter... save... Jupiter..." She walked on...

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"Who the hell are you?!" Tasha demanded as the air began to thrash about and pound like waves around her.

"Melifica." Came the screeching voice, each syllable she spoke making it harder for the Uranus senshi to focus her thoughts. "Melifica is my name... Do you want to fight me?" She asked.

"I want to fight you..." Tasha ground out. Her head was pounding and it was all she could do to keep on her feet as the sound waves seemed to tear at the air around her. She was fighting it, holding it back with her power, but it was driving her mad to do so.

She looked over and saw her fellow senshi, all three, Rini, Sesja, Hotaru, collapsed on the ground unconscious from the unbearable sound of her opponent's voice.

She had a thought though as she fixed her opponent with a cold stare and brought her hands together only a foot or so apart in front of her gave and focused her power in the spot between them.

She stared back into the eyes of her opponent and grit her teeth, willing herself to say the worlds -- SONG OF THE SEAMING AIR! -- she shouted at the top of her lungs as she hurled the object she had created at Melifica.

The ball of energy and air rumbled like a chorus of falling stones as it shook the air and seemed to scream out vengeance as it went.

The surprised demon watched on in shock as it closed on her and headed right at her mouth. She raised her voice at it and tried to destroy it, but whatever it was that the senshi of the skies has sent for her halted only for a timeless moment before it crashed through her defenses and exploded in her face, knocking her back to the ground several yards away.

Tasha looked on at the spectacle as a triumphant grin spread across her face. "Take that you stuck up annoying witch, thought you could beat me, huh? Not on... your life..." She fell to the ground in exhaustion.

She tried to catch her breath and get her head to stop from spinning. She looked over and was gratified to see her friends slowly waking up. But, as she tuned again in the direction of were Melifica had fallen, she saw her adversary closing in the distance between them, a sword in her hand. Melifica had lost her voice, but apparently was still a threat. A threat, she knew, she was too exhausted to fend off.

She looked on as Melifica contused to close on her, and she reached deep inside her, struggling to summon up enough strength to meet the attack. Whether she would have succeeded or died, however, she would never know, as a flash of light caught her eye and she saw something impact the demon's head and knock her to the ground.

Surprised she looked over and saw Hotaru smiling over at her just as she saw the pointed end of her glaive land and stick out of the ground a few feet away from her.

-- "Moon, healing, activation!" -- she heard called out now as Sailor Moon got to her feet and raised her Crescent Moon Wand over her head and sent out the healing energy she commanded to overtake the woman that had been their enemy, changing her back into the familiar form of Annalee, a young girl who's father kept the castle's horses.

"Whoa..." Rini said as she helped Sesja to her feet. "That was way too close..." She looked over at Hotaru who was going over to retrieve her glaive.

"You fought well." Hotaru said softly to Tasha, sparing her a kind smile as she turned away to go back towards Rini. "Thank you." She added.

"Thank you?" Tasha gave Hotaru's retreating form a wan smile. "I'd say we're even." She commented, remembering how the dark haired senshi had come to her defense moments before.

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"What's the matter little Ony, getting tired? So soon?" Darick laughed as their swords clashed again and he pushed Onyx back with little effort, this time kicking him back so he landed squarely on his backbone.

Onyx glared at him, his anger burning in him like a raging inferno. "Bastard!" He called out as he charged at Darick's smirking form again. "I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Darick just laughed darkly at this, side stepping his charge and clapping his rear end with the flat of his sward. "Ha!" He exclaimed. "Kill me? Oh please!" He laughed merrily. "You couldn't mow grass with a swing that clumsy, let alone kill a warrior of my skill. Why don't you just give up and slink off under a rock somewhere and let me have my way with your sister, huh? She'll welcome be back with open arms, I'm sure... She always was a gullible little waif, wasn't see? Believed whatever I told her..."

Onyx's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't believe this man had the gall to say these things to him. Couldn't believe he'd fooled him so much. This man was a monster!

"What? You don't thank that little thing with Falisha was a first, do you? Boy, I guess being a gullible, naive, fool must really ruin in the family, huh? Your sister wasn't my first love, and she'll hardly be my last... I'll convince her to take me back, and I'll marry her, then I'll have all your family's wealth and a pretty thing like her to keep me warm at night... At least until I get board of her that is..." He taunted him.

--"You're not going to let him talk about your sister like that, are you?" -- A faint voice echoed in Onyx's ear.

"You will NEVER TOUCH HER AGAIN!" Onyx shouted, his eyes dark with a fury so deep it threatened to consume him. His blade flared to life and it's light turned to blackness as it plunged through Darick's heart.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA" Darick laughed with predatory glee as the blade sunk into him. "That's right! Now you've done it! Now you're all mine! HAHAHAHAHA" Darick's face twisted in a feral grin, his teeth turned sharp, and his features turned into that of a dark wolf as she melted away and his dark energy went into Onyx through his now pitch black sword. A look of abject terror overtaking the shocked man's face.

"You're not..." Onyx started to say as the darkness took him and his words drained away.

"No.." A soft voice protested from across the field. The form made of light that looked like Sapphire stood there looking on as she saw what was happening. "Brother, no..." She whispered as she saw his face twist and his body grow into what looked like a large hulking werewolf, all dark fur, red eyes, claws, and teeth.

"Your brother isn't here anymore little spirit. You speak to Fenris now, and you'd best run while you can, for I'll surely eat you when I catch you." He taunted the specter of light.

"No." The girl said.

"Oh, no? What, you think you can fight me then?" The wolf sneered with a dark humor.

"I'm God, you can't hurt me..." She said. "Now give me back my brother, or I will take him from you... I swear I will." She leveled a her gaze at the beast, who merely quirked his head a moment and then chuckled.

--"Well, now isn't this an unexpected little treat."-- Doom thought to himself in amusement from his perch in the trees of the nearby forest.

"If you say so." Fenris said as he closed on her.

"I say so." Sapphire confirmed.

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to be continued


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